Breaking Away From a Bitter Destiny
by ladynadiad
Summary: AU What if Luke had never been kidnapped seven years previous? Find out how different things could have been. Spoilers til the the core, just in case. Thanks to darkangel for aid with chapter 2 and edits in subsequent chapters.
1. The Stranger in the Night

**Note and Disclaimer**: This is indeed an AU fic based off of one simple premise. One day I was asking myself "What if Luke had never been kidnapped?" as it seems that one event so drastically altered many things in the course of the game taking place. However, despite the serious amount of differences that occur with this one event not happening, there are still spoilers til Grand Chokmah. Anyway, enjoy! Also, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

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A blond-haired man was standing before another, taller man, this one with his brown hair tied back.The brown-haired man was stroking his goatee as he thought something over before speaking.

"Yes, you may have your revenge. But the son is to remain unharmed, and the woman only harmed if she interferes, understood?"

"Understood. The son likely won't even be there to get involved, if I've heard the rumors right."

"Ah yes, I had heard some talk during my last visit. It likely will keep him busy until his time comes."

Baticul, Remday, Rem-decan 16, ND2018

Night had fallen over the city. It was quite late, and everyone had retired for the evening, except the guards on duty and few others who for whatever reason had yet to seek their beds out.

One of these people was a young man from the castle. As of late he had been coming to the harbor at night for some peace and solitude to calm his nerves.

And he was definitely in need of it, with all that had been happening as of late. That could be why he had been here for the past few nights. Without the usual hustle and bustle, it gave him time to think.

The air felt cooler this night though than it had other nights. He suddenly felt a chill. Maybe it was time to go back to the castle. He started walking towards that way, when suddenly someone came running by and collided with him. Whoever it was, they were wearing all black, including a black cloak and hood. He turned around quickly to see if he could get a better look.

The person ran right onto one of the ships and got onboard it, as he boarded, the hood slipped a bit, revealing familiar blond hair. Once the man boarded, the ship departed.

"Guy…" he said to himself, "I thought you left the city for good. What are you doing here?" Then suddenly he remembered and took off running towards his parent's home, ignoring all friendly greetings from the few guards on duty at night.

He reached the manor house, the usual guard was standing by the door, nothing seemed amiss. But he knew something had happened. That was the only reason Guy could have returned was to make good on his promise. He approached the gate. The guard recognized him right away.

"Master Luke! It's unusual for you to visit this late! Is everything well at the castle?" the guard asked.

"Everything is fine at the castle. But I was out walking and saw something unusual. Have you noticed anything strange here tonight? Or heard anything?" Luke inquired of the guard.

"Nothing until you walked up, Master Luke," the guard answered.

"May I go in and check on Mother and Father? I know its late, but for some reason, I sense something happened and I won't be able to rest until I assure myself they are both fine," Luke asked.

"Of course. You have enough on your mind lately, I would be happy to do whatever I can to ease it," The guard told him and opened the gate up for Luke, who walked inside.

"Lock the door behind me and stay there until I come out. I don't know what I am going to find, but I have a feeling it isn't going to be pleasant," Luke told the guard.

"As you wish, Master Luke," The guard answered.

He waited for the door to close and to hear the familiar click of the lock before going further in. Right now he was in the entryway, and everything looked normal here. But then, Guy likely didn't come in this way, or else the guard would have seen something, and Guy knew the household well, having served in it for years.

Luke walked further in, heading towards the drawing room. There was still nothing unusual here, other than the silence since most were abed. He then slipped through the door to the hallway leading towards his parents' chamber. They likely were abed and he would just upset them by visiting this late, but he needed to make sure they were okay.

His steps slowed as he got closer to his parents' chamber. He felt worse and worse the closer he got. Once he reached the door, he lightly knocked on it and waited a moment for an answer, no answer came. He knocked louder, still no answer, which was strange. While his father was a deep sleeper, his mother usually was not, due her illness, and she would usually at least say something. He tried the door, it was locked. He could break it easily enough, but that would not be the best idea. He would have to go get the key.

He headed over towards the servant's quarters, as Ramdas, the head butler, would be the one with the key to his parent's chamber. However, Ramdas would be asleep at this hour, since the butler had to be up bright and early to make sure everything was ready for his Mistress and Master. Luke hated waking Ramdas, but the ominous feeling worsened with no answer from his parents.

He reached the quarters he knew belonged to the head butler, having been to the servant's quarters many times in the past. Odd that it was a former servant who caused this late night visit.

"I'll be right out, and this had better be good!" the butler yelled. Some banging could be heard and then the door opened. "Master Luke! What are you doing here at this time of night? I expected you to be at the castle."

"I was out talking a walk when I saw something unusual. I felt a need to check on Mother and Father, but they weren't responding. Could you loan me the key for a bit so I can ease my mind and know they are all right?" Luke asked worriedly.

"Of course, Master Luke. One moment." Ramdas closed the door, some shuffling sounds could be heard and then the door opened again. "Here, Master Luke. Would you like me to accompany you, or would you prefer to go alone?"

"I think I should go alone. I am sure they are just asleep and nothing is wrong, but I have to make sure, you understand, right?" Luke asked of the butler.

"Of course, I understand." The butler said. "Now be off with you. You can leave the keys with the gate guard after you have eased your mind."

"Thank you Ramdas. I will do that. Good night."

"Good night, Master Luke." Ramdas said, closing the door.

Luke headed back to his parents chamber and slipped the key into the door and turned they key in the lock. He then opened the door.

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Reviews are always appreciated!

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	2. A Tragic Event

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

I now have a partner in crime for this fic, darkangel.mya helped write this chapter, and anyone who likes this should also check out her fic

A warning though, this chapter likely pushes the limits of a T rating big time. This fic was rated M originally for this chapter but considering other fics, I decided to bring it down to a T.

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Luke slowly opened the door. The pale moonlight was the only source of illumination in the quiet room. Despite the light that the hallway offered, Luke was reluctant to open the door. Rather, he slipped on through the crack and silently shut it behind him. In the little moonlight that managed to leak into the room through the small crack between the curtains, nothing immediately seemed amiss. Not that he could really see much in the darkened room.

Normally he would have turned and left but something there still bothered him. Something that just wasn't right, his nerves were on end, and for whatever reason he just could shake the foreboding feeling that had assaulted him since his strange encounter in the port.

But that was silly. He was here wasn't he? Everything was fine. Why did he still feel so on edge? Everything was all right here wasn't it? It was peaceful and quiet...

It was as if someone has flicked a switch. A sudden realization came crashing down on him and no matter how long and hard he tried, it was a moment he would never be able to forget.

It was quiet, but it was not a noise that was the problem. It was the lack thereof. Though there was not a single sound to be heard in his parents bedroom, Luke could not hear anyone breathing.

Instinctively, he took a step back, and heard an all too familiar sound. He had stepped in something wet. It was then that Luke fon Fabre realized, he was standing in a pool of blood.

Luke was not a coward. Not by any stretch of the word. He couldn't afford to be, not with an entire country's people, not with all his people, depending on his courage and level head to keep them safe and secure. But in spite of all that, it took every last ounce of courage that he possessed to calmly leave the room to go get a torch, trailing blood all the way.

He hit the signal that called the for the guard, but it would probably be a few minutes before anyone came. Guards being called at this time of the night usually involved reprimanding for something or another, so no one was ever particularly eager to answer the late night summons. It was a trait that on any other night would have annoyed Luke to no end and one he ensured not a single guard in the castle possessed. If there was a call to his chamber, if Natalia needed them, they had better damn well be there – and fast if they valued their life.

Luke slipped back into the room as silently as he had left it and carefully motioned around the room, a path he could have probably followed in his sleep. He was going light all the lanterns before he dared to allow himself to look at the beds. He didn't need his imagination running away with him.

He lit the last lamp beside the doorway, very carefully still watching the blood that had begun to soak into the carpet. It had happened recently, very recently if only by the fact that the blood was now spread to the doorway.

There was no point in avoiding it any longer. Not looking, did not mean that it wasn't there. His childish denial of reality was pointless, and it wouldn't change a thing. He just had to do what he could.

The first thing he noticed when he looked up was his father. Well, what he assumed must have been his father, for the corpse was so horridly massacred that no one could possible identify it, even if they managed to find all the pieces that were now scattered over the bedroom. The blood wasn't just on the floor either, it painted the walls and the furnishings giving the room a hauntingly red glow that would remain without a doubt for years after it was cleaned up.

Massacred, however, was a rather friendly way of putting things. Unidentified pieces of flesh were scattered all over the room, though Luke had a horrid creeping feeling that the one pinned above the bed with a knife was a heart. The body itself lay half hanging off the bed, completely mutilated, holes where organs had been ripped out and the flesh torn asunder. The face, if it could even be called that anymore, had been completely gouged out with a knife, like a child scribbling out a picture with a crayon.

Thankfully, if one could be thankful for anything in this type of situation, his mother had been sparred the brutal mutilation that had been inflicted on his late father. The huge blood stain on her pillow telling instead of a blow to the head.

Luke had seen many things in his short life. But there was not a thing he could possibly have seen that would have prepared him for what he had just come across. Luke simply walked over to the corner by his mothers bed, and was sick. For moments that lasted an eternity he crouched in a corner of his parents room, hating; Hating the world that brought upon his family such a horrid fate. He vowed revenge. He would hunt down and kill the person who killed his family, and he would see to it that the pain they inflicted was returned ten-fold. He would be sure that whoever did _that_- he was sick again.

A ragged cough echoed in the silent room as his lungs protested the lack of air. But in the aftermath of his coughing, he heard a sound that made his heart stop. It was soft and weak, but he heard breathing.

Luke spun around and nearly flew to his mother's side. She was alive. He pulled her up onto the bed and very carefully set her head on his lap. It was still bleeding, but she was _alive_. She was... alive.

"What's going on? Master Luke! What are you doing here so late?" The guards exclaimed after seeing Luke, but looking around further stood frozen in the doorway.

"There's no time for that, get someone here to help her!" Luke still held his mother, but his eyes were cold. Full of a fury the guards had never seen in him. He was sitting on their mistress' bed covered in her blood as he tried to stop the bleeding from the wound in her head, and they were very afraid of him.

The captain wasted no time in sending out summons for the rest of the White Knights, an order that those with him were more than happy to oblige, if only to get out of that room.

It didn't take them five minutes to assemble and even less time for the captain to have them all organized. Some were sent to retrieve a doctor for the lady, others were sent to scour the manor, most were sent comb the city just in case the culprit was still about. It was a fruitless effort, but it helped put a few more minds at ease, if only a little, to know the monster was gone.

"I-" the guard hesitantly placed a hand on Luke's shoulder. Luke tensed, but managed to bite back whatever enraged response he was planning to throw at the captain.

Yelling at him now would serve no purpose. All things considered, he had certainly done an admirable job in keeping a level head amongst the initial chaos of his men. He was still good for something it seemed.

"I immediately sent a couple men with word to His Majesty, but they bore no details. Shall I go deliver a full report sir?"

"No. I'll tell Uncle myself." It was something he had to do. The fact that the captain himself offered to go deliver the news spoke volumes of the gravity of the situation and the fact that he was worried about Luke. But this was something Luke had to do. By explaining it, by admitting it was real; he could begin to deal with it. He needed to find strength now more than ever. "But first, how is she?"

The doctor stood up from beside his now resting mother. They had moved her from her bedroom into his own old room. It was a bit stuffy from having been closed up for a while but it was certainly better than where she was. The last thing she needed was to wake up to... to _that_.

"She should be fine after some rest. The damage was mostly superficial, and luckily the skull isn't fractured either. Whoever did this, had no intent to kill her."

That was certainly food for thought, and more than enough for Luke to begin to confirm his growing suspicions. The culprit was clearly after his father's life, but had spared his mother. Not typical behavior for an assassin, at least not for an assassin with no attachment to the family. The more he thought on it, the more certain he was, but now was not the time for such thoughts. It was late, and there was still so much to do.

"Thank you. I'm heading back to the castle. I'll give uncle a report before I retire."

So after what felt like an endless eternity, Luke finally was able to return to the castle. Of course there was still the dreaded duty of having to tell his uncle about what happened, and while he wished he could save that for the next day, he shouldn't, it was better for his uncle to hear it from him rather than from others. He entered the gate and headed towards his uncle's chamber. Upon seeing the guard usually stationed by the corridor at night, he spoke with him.

"Is the King still awake by chance?" Luke asked the guard.

"He had retired for the night, but when we heard what happened, we awoke him saying that you would wish to speak with him, and I am sorry for what happened to your parents." The guard told him.

Luke nodded. "Don't be sorry, we will find the criminal. I will go speak with him now."

Luke entered the king's chamber. King Ingobert was indeed awake, but he was still dressed in his night robes and appeared quite anxious. Upon hearing the door open, he stood and turned towards Luke, a shocked look came over his face once he saw him.

"I had heard something happened, but the guards said they didn't have the details yet.

What happened?"

"Someone broke into my parents' manor this evening. My father was murdered and my mother injured. She's going to be fine though, she just will need some time to recover." Luke told the king.

"I am so sorry about your father and mother, but I am glad Susanne will recover.

Do you have any information on who might have done this?" The king asked Luke.

"While I was sitting at the port as usual, I did see something unusual. A man came running through and quickly boarded a ship that left after he boarded it." Luke told the king.

"Was there anything in particular about this man that could help identify him?"

The king asked.

"He was wearing a black hooded cloak, so it was hard to tell, but as he boarded the ship, the hood slipped, revealing his hair. His hair looked much like that of a former servant to my parents, Guy Cecil." Luke told the King.

"Hmmm, that is indeed suspicious. I will definitely keep that in mind and have people investigate his possible relation to the events of this evening. I am sure we will find more clues in the morning also. But for now, do not worry, the criminal will be found and punished. You should try to get some sleep, and do not worry about your normal duties for tomorrow, someone else can handle them. Take whatever time you need." King Ingobert told him.

"Thank you, Uncle." Luke said and then left the chambers.

It had been a long night, but the hardest part was far from over. After all, there was still one more person to tell.

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Reviews are always appreciated! 


	3. The Bearer of Bad News

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

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Before he went back to the chamber he shared with his wife, the princess Natalia,

he stopped by the castle's laundry area. As it was late, there were no servants about, but he was able to get what he needed: a change of clothes. After changing his clothes and disposing of the ones he was wearing he was ready to go to his wife.

He wiped at his eyes, as it seemed that a few tears found their way there. Not that it was surprising, but he had to be stronger than that. He tried to think of better things to banish the horror instead.

He thought about the happiness he had found with his wife and the fact that she was expecting their first child. His happiness on that note was only marred by one fact; she had been having a very rough time with her pregnancy. This had been a major cause of concern as of late, as her mother had died soon after giving birth to Natalia. So she was forced to stay in bed this past month and would remain so until she gave birth to a healthy child.

He concentrated on thoughts of his wife and the child she would be having soon and that brought a smile for now. Now he could face her without causing her concern. He opened the door to the chamber they shared and stepped inside.

"Luke! Where have you been! I was starting to get concerned that something happened to you," Natalia exclaimed.

"I had to take care of something that came up," he explained, and sat down beside her on the bed. "How is our little one doing today?" he asked, while gently placing his hand on her rounded belly.

"He's been quite active today, which the doctor said was a good sign, but he still wants me to remain in bed for the time being until we are sure he isn't going to try and come into the world too early," Natalia explained.

"Or she, you could give me a daughter too, which would suit me just fine if she takes after her mother," Luke told her, trying to smile.

"I still think its going to be a boy," she told him, smiling. Then she looked at him more, he looked quite upset, despite the effort he made, but then she always could read him well, as his face was like the page of a book to her. "Luke, what's wrong? You look troubled."

"N-nothing is wrong, other than my concern for you and our child," Luke answered, nervously.

"No, that is not all, there is something else, isn't there? What happened while you were out? Something kept you out late and that is what is bothering you," Natalia inquired of him. "Tell me what happened."

He sighed. She definitely wouldn't let it go. While it was better she heard it from him, at the same time he dreaded telling her. The last thing he wanted to do was to upset her while in her condition. "Fine. I know you won't let it rest until I tell you. I was walking in the harbor area as usual this evening when a strange man ran into me. He departed the city quickly and then suddenly I had a feeling something bad happened," he explained while his wife listened intently. "So I paid a visit to the manor, as I had to make sure Mother and Father were fine."

"This late? Wouldn't they have retired for the night?" she inquired.

"Yes, they would. But I knew I wouldn't be able to retire for the evening myself until I could assure myself everything was fine. I just had a bad feeling about that man," He revealed to her. "And I was right. He broke into the manor, and he…he.."

"He did what?" she inquired of him.

"…He killed my father," he told her, his voice so quiet that she almost didn't hear him. As he said the words, the horror of the evening returned to him, and there was nothing he could do to stop the tears from coming to his eyes. His father may have been distant to him, but that didn't mean that he did not love him any less.

Natalia put her arms around her husband and held him as he cried on her shoulder. Unfortunately, the baby seemed to pick that moment to get a bit overactive in kicking. He pulled away from her embrace. "Are you all right?" he asked worriedly.

"He just got a bit active. I think he doesn't like knowing his father is so sad," she told him.

He actually smiled a bit then. He bent closer to where his child rested and whispered to the child, "Don't worry, your father will be fine, you just stay in there for now."

"He will, he's calmed down already," Natalia told him. "How is Aunt Susanne then? Was she hurt?"

"I was told she will recover," He told her.

"That is indeed good news then," she said, relieved. "Did you tell Father what happened?" He nodded. "Then let him handle it. For now, you should get some rest, as it is quite late."

"You are right," He gave her a kiss goodnight and both tried to get what sleep they could before they would be awakened.

Some time later, in Oracle Headquarters in Daath

Luke's former servant, Guy Cecil, arrived from his trip to Baticul, He made his way right to Commandant Van Grants' quarters to report in on what happened. He found Commandant Grants sitting at his desk mulling over some papers. Once the blond swordsman entered, Van looked up at him. "I trust the mission was successful?" he asked.

"I was able to enter undetected. Duke Fabre is quite dead, and my sister avenged," he told the Commandant.

"But were you detected leaving the city?" the Commandant asked Guy.

Guy appeared nervous when this question was asked. He didn't know if Luke got a good look at him or not, but seeing him on his way out of the city could not have been a good thing. "Um…well…" Guy hedged.

"Well, what?"

"I left as quickly as I could, unfortunately I accidentally collided with Duke Fabre's son on my way out. I said nothing to him and just kept on going," Guy nervously told the Commandant.

"Did he see you well enough to identify you?" Van asked.

"I do not know. I doubt it. But he's not stupid, he may put the pieces together," Guy explained.

"I see. Well, then we should assume it is no longer safe for you go to into Kimlascan territory. I doubt it will make any difference to our plans if he knows or not. He will either agree to aid us, or he won't. You are dismissed."

Guy was relieved to see that he was not going to be punished for that error. But then, he knew very well, Van always had a backup plan.

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Reviews are always appreciated! They let me know what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong 

And I want to add a few notes to answer a few questions I have gotten or imagine I will get with this new chapter

1. Natalia and Luke weren't married in game, what the heck?

My honest opinion on this one was why arrange a marriage considering what was to happen at Akzeriuth? This was indeed known to at least Duke Fabre, and I think also King Ingobert, but yet the marriage was still arranged, so why? Also, noble marriages could take place with the couple being rather young, and I read somewhere, forget where unfortunately, that in the Abyss world, it could be as young as 16. So I imagine those two would have been married off as soon as possible to ensure there was a heir with the best possible bloodlines.

2. Guy is on Van's side?

After doing a lot of thinking, I think it was the Luke we met in game that brought Guy over to the right side. Since in this world, that never happened, he's joined Van. That is why this is marked for spoilers til Grand Chokmah, as the removal of the Curse Slot was what revealed this in game.

3. So Luke is going to die at Akzeriuth?

Now, that would be a spoiler, wouldn't it? The only hint I am going to give is that the Score's exact words are as follows: "There, the youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon of Kimlasca, destroying himself and the city." Take that as you will.

The next chapter will be at the start of the game, so things will start being more recognizable, but with changes here and there, of course.

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	4. The Mysterious Visitor

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Now this finally meets up with the start of the game. Of course, there are some changes, since Guy is not on Luke's side, and Duke Fabre is dead, but that is part of the fun of an AU story. For now, the plot is mostly similar with minor changes, but it will start showing more differences as things get further along and it definitely isn't going to be easy for Luke, even as the original with much stronger powers than the replica Luke had in game.

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Baticul - Remday, Rem-Decan 23, ND2018

He woke up early that morning, as was his habit, despite the fact that there was little enough to do other than to check on his mother this day. He looked over and saw his wife was still asleep, so he took care to be quiet as he got out of bed and got dressed, as she needed the sleep. He then dressed as quietly as he could.

A week had passed since his father's murder. It had been a very hard and tiring week between making arrangements for his father's funeral and his worries about his mother and Natalia.

His mother was improving daily, however. Other than the fact that she mourned the loss of her husband, she was nearly recovered from the experience. Only time could heal the pain of loss.

Unfortunately, in a week's time, the criminal was no closer to being found than he was the night the murder had happened. The prime suspect, Guy Cecil, was indeed wanted for murder in all of Kimlasca now, with quite the reward for even information leading to his capture. However, other than his appearance the night of the murder, he seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

He finished dressing for the day. He looked over at his wife, who, to his relief, was still sleeping soundly. He gave her a light kiss on the forehead and then quietly left the room.

He walked down the hallway toward the stairs to reach the main hall of the castle when he heard someone behind him call out to him. "Master Luke!" the person said. It was a familiar voice, and Luke turned around to see the commander of the castle guard himself.

"Good morning Commander, I trust things have been quiet?" he inquired.

"Nothing has been amiss. I trust you and your wife are well?" the commander asked of him.

"As well as we can be, considering everything. But we do find it a great relief to have you keeping us safe," Luke answered. Then suddenly her was overcome with a sharp pain to his head, so painful that his knees buckled, causing him to fall to his knees.

"_Luke...fragment...of my soul...heed...voice," _a voice in his head tried to say.

"Master Luke! Are you okay?" the guard's commander asked with concern for the young man.

As suddenly as the pain arrived, it left again. "I am fine," He answered and stood back up. "I woke up with a headache, but didn't want to let it stop me from visiting Mother, that's all," he lied to the guard.

"Are you sure? Maybe you should go back to bed, or even see the doctor."

"I thank you for your concern, but truly, I am fine," He answered. "I must be going now, thanks again for your diligence in seeing to my wife's safety," Luke then walked away before the guard's commander could answer.

Truthfully, Luke was quite concerned. He had been having those headaches for years now, but usually they were infrequent. In the past week, however, they have been coming more frequently. Both his parents and his wife were quite concerned, but the doctors had no idea what the problem was. None knew about the voice though, not even Natalia. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to find out about that voice and doubt his sanity.

He tried to forget about the headache for now, as there was nothing he could do about it. As always, it was something about heeding a voice and a fragment of a soul, and he could make no sense of any of it. The important thing now was to go see that his mother was doing well still. He walked down the stairs and to the manor. When he reached the gate, the White Knight at the gate stopped him.

"Master Luke, Dorian General Grants is here. He wished to speak with you." the White Knight told him.

"Master Van? That is a surprise, today wasn't a training day, so I wasn't expecting him," Luke said. "How long has he been here?"

"He arrived only a few minutes ago. He said he was going to pay his respects to the Lady and give his condolences since he heard the bad news as he arrived in the city."

That got Luke's attention right away, as he wondered if Van knew anything about the murder. The last time the Commandant of the Oracle Knights came for Luke's training, he mentioned that if Luke did not pledge his aid to them soon, his family might find themselves threatened and there was little he could do about it. Was Guy a part of the Oracle Knights then? And if so, was he acting under orders or on his own?

"Thank you. I will go see Mother and Master Van now," Luke said and walked past the guard into the gate.

He walked into the entryway and then into the courtyard. Ever since his father's murder, the manor had a strange feel to it. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it likely was due to the bad memories associated with it now. He hoped that soon his mother would be recovered enough to join him at the castle as both he and his Uncle urged her too. She was still using his old room, as not only did she have the injury, but she was also ill again, that was why she could not be moved at this time.

He opened the door to his old room and saw his mother awake and lying on his old bed, she did appear to be in better condition this day than she had for the past week. Commandant Grants was standing next to the bed.

"Luke!" Madam Fabre exclaimed when she saw her son. "Dorian General Grants was wanting to see you. I knew you would be here soon though."

"Mother, how are you doing today?" he asked.

"I am feeling much better, thank you," She answered.

"Luke, I will await you in the courtyard, as I know you are concerned for your mother. Come speak with me when you are ready," Van said as he left the room, leaving Luke alone with his mother.

"Mother, are you feeling well enough to come to the castle? Uncle is concerned for your safety, also. Both he and I would feel better if you were there and his guards could keep an eye on all of us. Natalia also would like to have you on hand for when the child is born," Luke asked her.

"Luke, I know you are concerned. I promise, when the doctor says I am well enough, I will join you. You need not be so worried though, my brother has sent some men over to keep watch here at night along with the guards here," She assured him.

"I know, but I still worry for you," Luke told her.

"I should be better soon. Now, go find Dorian General Grants. He is a busy man and can't wait all day for you," She gently admonished.

"I will go. Get some rest and I will return when the doctor comes by to check on you," he told her and left her to go speak with his sword master in the courtyard.

"Luke, I am glad to see you are well. My condolences on your father's death. Has the criminal been found?" he inquired.

"No, Master. As far as I know, Uncle still has not found the criminal responsible," he told Van, avoiding saying anything about a suspect.

"I am sure the King will capture him soon. Have you thought more about our last discussion? About aiding me?" he asked.

"As I told you the last time, I cannot leave Baticul at this time. My wife is expecting our first child, and now with my mother being ill, I especially cannot leave. I will consider it after mother has fully recovered and my child is born."

"There would be no need for you to leave at this time. I would even be able to provide some men to aid the King in making sure your wife and mother are safe. Once they are well and your child born, if you have to leave, I will make sure they are safe for you. For now all I need from you is your promise to assist when I ask it of you," He told Luke.

Put like that, it was tempting, except for the fact that he was not sure if his Master had nothing to do with his father's murder, or even knowledge of it. With even the remote possibility that he could have had any involvement, the last thing he wanted was any men loyal to Van to be guarding his loved ones. They were safe for now with the guards in the castle along with the White Knights of the manor.

"I cannot make any promises until after the child is born. Once Natalia has recovered from the birth, I will give you an answer. Until then, I will keep it in mind," he answered, hoping that would satisfy the man for now until he knew more.

"I understand. There is something else I need to tell you. I came to let you know that I will be away for a time, as I have to return to Daath," Van told him.

"Why would that be?" Luke asked.

"I have been ordered to return to organize a search for Fon Master Ion," The Oracle Knight commander answered.

"Fon Master Ion is missing? That is grave news indeed. I will tell Uncle about it, if you would like, and he can aid you in your search," Luke told him.

"Daath would indeed be grateful for the aid of Kimlasca. For now I do now know anything, but I will send word to His Majesty if I know anything. But any additional eyes out for Fon Master Ion would be appreciated."

Then suddenly Luke and Van heard a voice singing from a distance away, but within the manor. The Oracle Knight commander fell to his knees, Luke was fine, but felt a bit lethargic.

"That…voice! It can't be!" Van exclaimed as best as he could in his tired condition.

A woman then appeared in the courtyard. She was wearing a brown uniform and had long brown hair, much like Van's, but longer and not pulled back. She was holding a staff in one hand and had a small knife in her other hand.

"Vandesdelca! I finally found you! Prepare to die, traitor!" The mysterious woman yelled and then came running towards Van.

"Tear! I knew it!" Van said, as he tried to stop the woman.

"Who the hell is that, and how did she get past the guards?" Luke yelled, and then again another headache came to him. "Not again!"

_"Resound...! The will of Lorelei shall reach you... and open the way!"_ the voice he heard earlier said to him. He was oddly glowing, his power seemed to be out of control for some reason, as he usually was able to keep it in check.

"Not that weird voice again…" he grumbled. But this time it was indeed worse,

as it was causing his powers to go out of control.

At that moment, Van had deflected the woman's attack, but her momentum

carried her towards Luke. She couldn't stop herself from running into him.

"The Seventh Fonon?" the woman asked, astonished at what she saw before she was stopped by running into the redheaded young man. The moment they touched, a pillar of light appeared.

And when the pillar of light disappeared, both were gone.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	5. Waking Up Far From Home

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

This is definitely the longest chapter yet, and not easy to write as Luke is indeed so different here than he was in game. For one, I imagine he had been out of Baticul many times accompanying his parents and Natalia for whatever would take them out of the city, so I imagined he could handle himself much better when put in this situation. And while he may be annoyed by it, he knows it was not completely Tear's fault, so he doesn't want to take it out on her.

Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys their interactions as much as I had fun writing them.

* * *

He was not aware of how much time had passed, but he heard a strange woman's voice. At first it sounded very distant, but got clearer. "Luke! Wake up!" the voice called out to him.

He slowly opened his eyes. His vision was a blurred at first, but it quickly cleared up. He saw that he was indeed no longer in the manor's courtyard, but instead in a field of flowers. It also was now dark. How long had he been out? He could see the woman from earlier kneeling over him; she appeared concerned for him more than anything else.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked.

"Y-yeah, I am fine now," He answered. "Who are you? And where are we?"

"My name is Tear. As far as where we are, I don't know. But it seems a hyperresonance occurred when I fell onto you and we were transported here."

A hyperresonance. That wasn't at all surprising to him. Whatever happened as she attacked caused his abilities to go out of control. Normally his power did nothing like that, and now he had messed things up seriously, as this woman was involved in whatever happened, and he was in some far off place when he was needed in Baticul.

He tried to stand up, he was a bit shaky at first, but was able to quickly gain his sense of balance. "You shouldn't be trying to move so quickly!" Tear scolded him.

"I don't know of any other way to get out of here. Do you?" he said to her.

"No. But it is not my intent to let harm come to you. I wasn't expecting a Seventh Fonist to be around, it was my error, and I apologize for the trouble I have caused and will make sure you get back to your home safely," She told him.

"I can look after myself," He said stubbornly. "And I don't find you at fault for that, something happened beyond our control. Now we have to deal with it. The best way to do so is to find out where we are."

"You are right, and we won't do that if we stay here," Tear told him. "Let's get out of this ravine, and maybe we will find a road."

"And if there is a road, we can take a coach to Baticul," He finished.

They started walking out of the area when a monster jumped out of the bush, surprising them both. Luke regained his composure more quickly and took the monster down before Tear could even do anything to assist him.

"Not bad," Tear praised him. "And to think, I thought I would be protecting a pampered member of royalty, but you seem capable of handling yourself."

"You don't have to feel a need to protect me just because of who I am. It is safer though to travel with others, even if the other is the one who broke into a rather well protected manor house," he said to her. "At least I know you are capable also."

She turned several shades of red at his comment, but knew he was right. "I-I'm sorry for involving you and breaking into your manor. I wouldn't blame you one bit if you had me arrested the moment you get back to Baticul."

"We will see what happens when we get back," He hedged, not wanting to admit that, while he didn't trust her one bit, he didn't blame her for attacking Van, only for her choice in location for doing so. "Let's get out of here before more monsters find us. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get back to my wife and mother, who are likely worried sick."

"You are right. Let's go," She said as she started walking along the path.

They walked the rest of the way in silence avoiding the monsters and fighting off what few dared attack. The monsters really weren't that much of a threat, and with the two of them, anything that came was quickly dealt with.

They finally reached the exit and as they did so, they saw a man entering the area with a bucket in hand. "Uah!" the man yelped. "Don't tell me you're with the Dark Wings?"

"The Dark Wings?" Tear asked.

"A group of bandits. Two men and a woman…wait there's only two of you."

"We lost our way and ended up here. Might I ask who you are?" Luke inquired of the man.

"I'm a coachman. One of the wheels on my coach started acting up. We lost our drinking water when the jug fell off, so I came here to draw some more," the man answered.

"Does your coach go as far as the capital?" Tear inquired of the coachman.

"Yeah, that's my last stop," the coachman answered.

"Do you have room for more passengers? We don't know our way around this area too well and a coach would be much faster," Luke said.

"To the capital, it would be 12,000 Gald a piece. Do you have enough on you?" the coachman asked.

"I don't have that sort of money on me, how about you?" Luke whispered to Tear.

"I can handle it," she said quietly to Luke. Then to the coachman she said, "Would this work as a payment?" she removed a gem from her neck and handed it to the coachman.

"Wow, this is some gem. All right, hop aboard," The coachman replied.

Both Luke and Tear get into the coach and soon after the coach departed for their destination. Not long after getting on, Luke was lulled to sleep by the consistent motion and also his own strange tiredness that seemed to come from the stress he had been through as of late. After a time where they go along with no problems, suddenly another coach goes by with a military landship following it. Hearing the noises, Luke was instantly startled awake.

"Wh-what was that?" Luke exclaimed.

"Ah, you're awake now. It seems that another coach is being chased," Tear told him while looking out the window at what was going on. Luke looked over her shoulder to get an idea of what was going on himself.

"The army's chasing those bandits. It's those Dark Wings I mistook you for earlier!" the coachman interjected.

Suddenly they all could hear a booming voice coming from the military ship, "You, there! Move your coach before you get caught in the crossfire!" the voice called out to them. The coachman didn't hesitate and quickly moved the coach, narrowly avoiding the military vessel. In the process, Luke almost fell over onto Tear.

The coach being chased crossed a bridge that Luke and Tear's coach had just recently crossed. Once the coach got to the bridge it stopped for a time and then started back up. It was evident that the military vessel knew what was going on, as it stopped before the bridge exploded.

"Wow! That's Malkuth's newest land dreadnought, the Tartarus!" the coachman exclaimed excitedly.

"Malkuth?" Luke inquired carefully.

"Yeah, we are in an area where the military has tightened security. There's rumors that Kimlasca's going to start a war and the military can't be too careful around here," the coachman answered.

"You mean we aren't in Kimlasca?" Tear asked.

"What are you talking about? This is the Malkuth Empire. The West Rugnica Plains," The coachman answered.

"Hmm, I must have been mistaken then," Tear mused.

"Are you two Kimlascan?" the coachman inquired.

"N-no! We were headed to the Kimlascan capital for business," Tear answered.

"That's the other direction, then. If you're going to Kimlasca, you should've taken the road south, rather than crossing the bridge. Mind you, with that bridge out, you can't go back now..." the coachman answered.

"What is your next stop then?" Luke asked.

"The village of Engeve is to the east of here and is the next stop. I can go ahead and let you two off now, or you can stay on until Engeve. Up to you."

"Let's ride until Engeve, then once we are there we can figure out what to do next. While we could get a ship from Grand Chokmah, it would take much longer," Luke answered.

"All right, then I will take you two to Engeve," the coachman said.

It took a bit of time, but they arrived without further mishap in the village. The coachman let them off and they made their way into the village. The village was small, but appeared reasonably prosperous, despite the dirt roads and some buildings not being in the best of condition. The prosperity was more evident in the people themselves, as they seemed busy and in good health. It was evident that the condition of the village came more from the fact that the residents worked hard and had little time for upkeep of some buildings.

A man greeted them. "You folks just arrive on that coach?"

"Yes, we did," Luke answered.

"Ah, I am sorry, we just have had issues with bandits of late, can't be too careful when strangers arrive," The man said.

"Could I ask what the best way to get to Kimlasca from here is?" Tear inquired of the man.

"I heard Rotelro Bridge is out, so you'd have to head to the Kaitzur checkpoint in the south," The man answered her.

"Thank you for your help," Tear told him.

"No problem. Bye!" the man said and walked off.

"Hmm, a checkpoint. That means we will need passports, and I don't have mine on me. Do you have one?" Luke asked.

"No, I don't. This could indeed be a problem," Tear said.

"Well, we should at least head in that direction. I have been there a few times, it may be possible that if we can speak with someone there, they may recognize me and let us through, or we may come up with another idea on the way there," Luke told her.

"You're right. We probably should get some rest and get supplies before heading to Kaitzur. It's a long way from here, so it can't hurt to be prepared," She said.

They headed to the marketplace and obtained some supplies. Once they finished, they made their way to the inn, but were stopped at a building that had a large group of people standing around it. Unfortunately the group was so large that they could not pass. They decided to stay and listen until the group dispersed.

"Nothing... Every last scrap of food in the storehouse has been stolen," one of the men grumbled.

"This has happened time and time again since those fires up north. You think maybe some deserters hiding out up there have started to come here looking for food?" another man pointed out.

"Or it could be the work of the Dark Wings, too," Another man suggested.

Another man came and joined the group. "The Fon Master found evidence that it was cheagles who stole the food."

"The Fon Master?" Luke whispered to Tear. "He's here? I heard he was missing."

"Fon Master Ion is missing?" Tear whispered back. "That's news to me."

"Rose and Fon Master Ion said they were going to think of a way to deal with it," the man who brought the news said.

"Guess there's nothing we can do then until they deal with it," the first man who spoke grumbled and then walked away towards the inn. The rest of the group broke up at that point, leaving Luke and Tear free to walk to the inn now.

They walked inside the inn and saw a girl, dressed in a pink, purple, and white uniform with a strange looking brown doll hanging around her neck badgering the innkeeper. "Have you seen the person I was with?! A boy, pretty short? Kind of out of it?" the strange girl asked excitedly.

"Sorry, I was away from the inn a little while…" the innkeeper tried to answer before being interrupted by the girl.

"Honestly, that Ion! Where did he run off to?" the girl grumbled.

"Do you mean Fon Master Ion?" Luke asked her.

"Yeah, have you two seen him?" the girl asked.

"According to what the others said, he was with Rose," Tear mentioned.

"Rose?" the girl asked.

"Rose is the mayor. Turn left after you exit the inn and her house is at the end of this street, you can't miss it," The innkeeper told the girl.

"Thank you!" the girl said, and ran towards Rose's house.

"Do you know who that was?" Luke asked the innkeeper.

"Beats me, she had just got here when you two arrived," The innkeeper said.

"She appeared to be a Fon Master Guardian from the looks of the uniform she was wearing. That means whatever brought the Fon Master here was officially sanctioned by the Order," Tear informed Luke.

"Hmmm, then why was he rumored to be missing?" Luke asked curiously.

"So…can I help you two?" the innkeeper asked.

"Yes, do you have two rooms available? We'd like to rent them for the night," Tear informed the innkeeper.

"Unfortunately, I only have one room left with all the visitors to the village, but it does have two beds. Will that do?" the innkeeper explained.

"That's fine, anything is better than camping outside, right Luke?" Tear said.

"Of course, one room is fine if two aren't available." Luke answered as he couldn't disagree if Tear was willing to stay in the same room with a man she barely knew. She was right though, anything was better and safer than camping out.

"That will be 100 Gald then," the innkeeper said to Tear. She handed him the money and he handed her a key. "Second door on the left. Have a good night."

Tear and Luke went into the room; it was a small room, but at least clean and had two beds, albeit small beds, as the innkeeper had promised. Luke placed the supplies they had purchased earlier on a small table that was in the room. "I will step outside a moment if you wish to change or anything, let me know when I can come back in," he said to her.

"Thank you," She replied. He stepped out of the room and she removed her boots and gloves. She also removed the outer part of her uniform, just leaving a dark pink skintight suit that was actually quite comfortable to sleep in if needed, but still covered her up enough. She then slipped under the covers. "You can come back in now, Luke."

Luke entered the room again. He removed his boots, jacket, sword belt and a ring and laid down on the bed himself.

Tear remained silent for a bit after he got into his bed before asking him, "Um, are you angry at me for putting you into this situation?" she asked warily.

He thought a moment before answering, "For breaking into the manor, yes I am still a bit upset, for taking me away from Baticul, no, that was something that was beyond your control or mine."

"What do you mean? I was the one who was careless, not you," she told him.

"Not necessarily…" he told her.

"Do you know something I don't?" she asked.

"Perhaps I might be more inclined to tell you about it if you would tell me why you were so intent on killing Van that you broke into the home of a noble," He informed her.

"I-I can't explain that," she stammered.

"Then we have no more to discuss and should get some rest so we can leave early. You did say it was a long trip to Kaitzur, correct?" he told her.

"Yes, you're correct. Good night then," she said.

"Good night," he responded.

-----

The night passed in peace, mostly. Both Tear and Luke slept soundly and when the sun rose, Tear woke up. She quickly dressed while Luke was still sleeping and freshened herself up. She did find it odd how much sleep he seemed to need since they left. Was that normal for him, or did it have to do with what he wasn't wanting to talk about last night? Well, there was no use thinking further on that, as she wasn't going to come up with any answers until he was more forthcoming. Unfortunately, since neither trusted the other completely, the answers were not likely to come soon.

She finished dressing and was working on removing the tangles from her long hair when she noticed the table where they had place the supplies last night. Something seemed to be missing. Still brushing out tangles, she investigated the table closer. The bags the supplies were in seemed to still be there, but the contents were completely missing. Strange colored fur could be seen all over the bag. There were pieces of fur in yellow, green, blue, pink, and purple. The only creatures she could think of who had fur in those colors were cheagles.

She was about to wake up her red haired traveling companion when she saw him sit up in bed and stretch his arms out. "Good morning, Tear." He said to her then looked concerned as the expression on her face. "Did something happen?"

"Our supplies are missing," she told him, trying to remain calm.

"By whom?" he asked.

"From the fur, I'd guess it was the cheagles again," she told him. "I guess we'll have to buy more, I just hope we have enough to do so and there are still supplies remaining in the village."

Luke started getting dressed since they were going to have to leave soon. Since he didn't exactly have a change of clothes on him, all he could do was put his jacket and boots back on. He then strapped on his sword belt and was about ready to go when he realized something was missing and he couldn't see it anywhere. He checked the floor and even under the bed just in case it maybe rolled off.

"What are you looking for?" she asked him as he was looking under the bed.

He was so startled by her question that he hit his head on the bed. "Oww," He grumbled. "I was just looking for, um…well..."

"What? Maybe I can help you look if you describe it," She suggested.

"A ring. It is a rather thick band, has quite a few diamonds on it, along with some engraving on the inside. Needless to say, my wife tends towards the extravagant, which means it isn't practical to wear while sleeping. Last time I attempted to do so, I ended up with a rather nasty cut on my face," he said, trying not to show his concern, but he knew Tear was going to find the whole thing funny, being a woman.

"Let me guess, your wedding ring?" she asked trying her best to stifle the laughter coming to her.

"Yes." He said, disgruntled. "I would appreciate it if you would help me look."

"Men…" she mumbled to herself. "Fine, I'll help you look, even though there isn't much in the way of places it could have gone. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" he asked.

She saw his jacket also had cheagle fur on it. "Look at your jacket."

"Damn it! Don't tell me the cheagles stole my wedding ring, too!" he cursed.

She looked around the room, checking the floor mostly and then even checked under her bed. "I think so. It's not anywhere in this room that I can see, unless maybe it fell into a pocket of your jacket?" she suggested.

He quickly checked his pockets and then shook his head.

The brown haired woman sighed, knowing this was going to make their trip longer for sure, as now they would have to track down the cheagles rather than leaving the issue to the villagers. "If I recall correctly, the cheagles make their home in the woods north of here. It's not a long trip, but it likely will take the whole day to go there, find the cheagles, and come back."

"You don't have to come along, you could stay here and rest while I go there by myself," he suggested.

"No, I said I'd see you home safely. I'll go with you."

And so they left the inn, making sure to hand the innkeeper the key on their way out, and then headed north to the Cheagle Woods.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	6. The Trip to the Cheagle Woods

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Sorry this one took so long, for some odd reason, this particular part of the game always goes by so slowly for me, and it seems writing it wasn't better. It also didn't help that while I was trying to write this, a certain very evil God-General that should appear in the next chapter kept telling me what he wants to say and telling me to hurry up so he can appear already!

* * *

The trip to the Cheagle Woods was long, but mostly uneventful. While Luke and Tear did meet up with a few monsters on the way, they weren't anything the two could not handle when working together. In fact the closer they got to the woods, they better they got at working with each other. Tear's supportive skills went along great with Luke's attack skills and they felt they likely could handle anything that came their way. 

Finally they made it to the woods where the cheagles made their home. On the road, however, they saw a young green-haired boy being attacked by a group of ligers. The boy was on his own and other than a staff, did not appear to have any means of defending himself. The two travelers were about to rush in to assist the boy when he started chanting some words. He then placed his hand on the ground and a glowing light defeated the entire group of ligers.

The boy while unhurt, did not come out of it entirely unscathed. He fell over from exhaustion, likely from his use of the power. Luke and Tear ran over to him to make sure he was all right.

Once they got closer, Tear recognized right away who the boy was. "Fon Master? What are you doing here? Are you all right?"

"I am fine, I just used too strong of an arte. I wanted to investigate the matter with the cheagles. The cheagle is the Order of Lorelei's sacred beast, and it is unlike them to steal food. Might I ask who you two are and what you are doing here as well?"

"I-I'm Luke." Luke said nervously, as he was sure the Fon Master would likely recognize him.

"Ah, Luke, that's a nice name. It means 'light of the sacred flame' in Ancient Ispanian. Haven't I seen you before, perhaps in Kimlasca?" the Fon Master asked him.

"Perhaps…" Luke said trying to avoid answering.

"I understand…you are nervous to let someone know who you are while in Malkuth. I will let it go for now. And you?" he said to Tear.

"I'm Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants. 1st Platoon, Oracle Knights Intelligence Division, under Grand Maestro Mohs' command." She answered in an official sounding way.

Ion looked surprised. "You're Van's younger sister! I've heard of you, but we hadn't met before, had we?"

"Wait a second, you're Van's sister? Why didn't you tell me that before?" Luke exclaimed.

"I told you, I can't explain now." She told him.

"Would it be best if I don't inquire about this then?" the young Fon Master asked.

"I'm sorry. It relates to my homeland. I'd prefer not to get you or Luke involved..." she explained.

Suddenly a strange pink and white creature jumped out of some bushes nearby. "A cheagle! Let's follow it!" Ion exclaimed.

Upon hearing Ion's excited voice, the cheagle appeared suddenly frightened and started to run away. Luke and the others followed the cheagle as best as they could, but unfortunately it got away from them rather quickly.

"Damn! It got away!" Luke exclaimed

"Don't worry Luke. If we follow this path, we should find their nesting ground." Ion told him.

"Are you looking for the cheagles also, Fon Master?" Tear asked the boy.

"I was curious about the matter in Engeve. Cheagles are intelligent and peaceful creatures. It's not like them to steal food, so I thought I would find out why."

"Would you mind then if we came along?" The redhead asked him.

"Really? You two are investigating the cheagles also?"

"Yes. It seems the cheagles got a hold of something important to Luke." Tear told the Fon Master, which caused Luke to turn several shades of red.

Ion laughed a bit. "It must have been important for you to be so embarrassed, Luke. I don't mind if you and Tear accompany me."

"Luke, how can you think about letting the Fon Master go somewhere so dangerous? I should escort him back to Engeve." Tear exclaimed.

"He got here just fine on his own, and it's safer for him to be with us since he's likely to just come back here anyhow." Luke told her.

"Tear, I appreciate your concern, but I have to know. Cheagles are the sacred beasts of the Order, after all. And Luke's right, it's safer if I have you two accompany me." Ion told her.

"Fine. Just leave the fighting to Luke and me, Fon Master." She reluctantly agreed. "That way you don't need to use all your strength on that arte again."

"I know." Ion agreed. "I didn't have much of a choice though, but with both of you protecting me I should have no need to fight."

"What was that arte, anyway?" Luke inquired. "I had never seen such a thing before."

"That is no surprise. Only Fon Masters can use Daathic Fonic Artes like that one." Ion answered.

"That explains a lot." Luke said. "Well, we probably should go further in so we can find the cheagles if we want to find out why they stole the food."

"And your wedding ring." Tear mentioned.

"Tear! Did you have to say that?" Luke exclaimed, looking rather embarrassed.

Ion laughed a bit. "I understand now why you are so concerned. You must care for your wife a great deal."

Luke's face turned several shades of red after hearing the Fon Master's comment. He answered, but his reply was unintelligible.

"What was that, Luke?" the Fon Master asked the redhead.

"Um, nothing. Let's go find the cheagles. You did say their nesting ground was nearby, right, Fon Master?" Luke said to change the subject.

"Yes, we should find it if we follow this path." Ion replied, trying not to laugh at the fact that Luke's face was still almost as red as his hair.

Before anyone else could say anything further, Luke started walking ahead. He didn't bother to look back to see if they were following, he just kept on following the path. It wasn't too long before he found himself in front of a giant tree and found some more cheagles, these ones appeared smaller than the one before, however.

Once he came into view, the small cheagle bounced off. "Damn it! Not again!" he exclaimed.

"This looks to be their nesting area. Let's go inside and see what we can find." A voice said from behind Luke, startling him. He looked back and saw the Fon Master, who was smiling at him, and Tear was standing behind Ion.

"Glad to see you remembered us." Tear said to him.

"Sorry, I got a bit upset there." He apologized.

"Don't let it happen again." Tear said. "And, um, I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean to upset you."

"So the cold one can show some warmth then? All right, I'll forgive you, this time. Just keep quiet on this, especially if you meet my wife, ok?" Luke asked.

"Of course. Your wife won't hear of this from me." Tear promised.

"Your secret is safe with me also, Luke." Ion chimed in.

"Thank you, Fon Master." Luke said, relieved. "So let's go inside and see what we can find." He took a step forward and then noticed something on the ground in front of him. He bent over to pick it up, it was an apple. There was a mark on it that looked somewhat familiar to him. "Fon Master, does this mark look like anything you know?"

Ion walked up to Luke and looked over the apple. "That appears to be the mark of Engeve. But I wonder why they did it, as they wouldn't be laying on the ground here if the cheagles needed them."

"Well, we won't find out standing here, let's go inside." Luke said impatiently.

The three of them went inside and were immediately surrounded by a large group of bouncing cheagles who made a noise that sounded like "Mieu" over and over again, but with different inflections, which must be how they communicate with each other.

"Please, let us through." Ion pleaded with them, kneeling to get closer to them.

"I don't think they are understanding what you are asking, Fon Master." Luke mentioned. It was true though, the cheagles were still eagerly surrounding the three of them and bouncing happily.

"The order's founder, Yulia Jue, made a pact with the cheagle and gained their aid... or so I've been told." Ion said.

From behind the group of smaller cheagles, they could hear a voice, it sounded older than the others, but also almost human, "...Mieu mieu. Mieu, mieu." Having heard this voice, the others cleared a pathway and an older purple cheagle could be seen. It was holding a ring of some sort that was as large as it was. "…Are you of relation to Yulia Jue?" the older cheagle asked.

Tear and Luke appeared surprised by the cheagle speaking, but Ion did not seem in the least bit surprised. "Wow, I didn't know cheagles could speak!" Luke exclaimed.

"It is the power of the ring we were granted as part of our pact with Yulia. Are you of relation to Yulia?" the cheagle elder asked to none of them in particular.

"Yes. I'm Ion, Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei. Am I correct in assuming that you're the cheagle elder?" Ion inquired of the older cheagle.

" Indeed I am." The older cheagle answered.

"I am confused. I see a lot of vegetation here. Why was there a need to take food from those of Engeve?" Luke inquired of the older purple cheagle.

"I see, you have come to exterminate us then." The elder answered.

"No, we didn't." Luke mentioned.

"Cheagles are herbivores, why did you steal human food?" the young Fon Master asked.

"...To preserve the cheagle tribe." The cheagle elder answered. "One of our members caused a fire in the northern region. As a result, the ligers that lived there moved down to this forest. ...In order to prey on us."

"Then, the reason you stole the food was so your people wouldn't be eaten." Ion realized.

"...Correct. If they aren't sent food periodically, we cheagles are captured and eaten." The old purple cheagle informed him.

"That's horrible..." Ion said.

"So what are we to do?" Luke asked to Tear and Ion. "We obviously can't let them keep stealing food, no matter what the reason. And it wasn't just food taken either."

"Perhaps we can offer our assistance to negotiate with the ligers in return for them giving back what was taken from you?" Ion offered.

"There is one small problem though, ligers can't talk like the cheagle elder can." Tear mentioned.

"If we take a cheagle with us, it can translate. Our part would be providing an escort and seeing to the cheagle's safety." Ion suggested.

"Hmm, that could work." Luke allowed.

"We cheagles agree to your offer of assistance." The elder cheagle responded showing that she had been listening.

"In exchange for our assistance, we would appreciate if you would return an item that was taken from me last night. It is a ring and rather dear to me, and would not be of use to either yourself or the ligers." Luke requested.

"Describe the ring, and if we have it, it will be returned when you finish negotiations." The cheagle elder said.

Luke sighed and thought a moment how to describe the almost gaudy ring he was given by his wife to the cheagles. "It a about this thick," he said showing with his fingers a reasonable amount before continuing with his description.. "It has sparkly and shiny stones on it that we call diamonds. There is also some human writing on the inside. The metal is a golden color, it also should sparkle and shine."

"You will have your ring back. I recall one of the young ones with such an item. I will have it for you upon your return." The cheagle elder told him. "…Now then, I shall lend this sorcerer's ring to the one who will be your interpreter. Mieu, mieu mieu mieu mieuuu."

After the elder said the words in her own language, a smaller blue cheagle came bouncing out. "This child is the one who caused the fire in the north. I want you to take him with you."

The elder placed the ring around the smaller cheagle's body, at first accidentally hitting the small one in the head. Oddly it didn't seem bothered by that at all and then slid the ring up its body.

Then a rather high pitched voice said, "My name's Mieu. Pleased to meet you."

Luke just groaned at hearing the voice, but did not comment on the voice, he knew that diplomacy was the best option here. He almost wished Natalia were here, as she was better at these sorts of things, he would definitely have to tell her about how he ended up escorting a monster to negotiate with another monster. Of course, he would leave out the part about why he ended up on this mission.

"Well, Mieu, let's get going. You know where the ligers can be found so we can negotiate with them, correct?" Luke asked of the little cheagle.

"Sure do!" the young cheagle said eager to please.

"Good, then you will have to show us the way." He said to Mieu and started walking towards the exit. Tear and Fon Master Ion, along with Mieu followed him, bouncing happily. Mieu then bounced ahead of them along the path showing them the direction they needed to go and the group made sure Mieu did not get too far ahead.

"You sure are good at this sort of thing." Tear mentioned to him while they followed the young cheagle.

"I admit, this is the first time I have ever accompanied a monster to negotiate with another monster, but I often accompany my wife on diplomatic trips with other areas." He explained as he walked. "But the more confident Mieu feels, the better this is going to go."

"You might be right about that." Ion said.

The group continued to walk down the path following Mieu who was just a very short bit ahead of them. They then reached a point where to continue along the path, they would need to cross a river first.

"Hmm, looks like we will have to wade through this river. It shouldn't be too deep, and one of us can carry Mieu." Tear suggested.

Luke looked around, "Hmm, it's a shame that tree is on the other side, it's dead and would make a good bridge."

Mieu bounced happily. "I got an idea!" Without waiting for a response from the group, he bounced to the edge of the river, across from the dead tree. All of a sudden a small ball of fire came from his mouth and hit the tree, causing it to fall over and make a nice bridge.

"That's right, I'd forgotten that cheagles were a fire-breathing species." Ion mentioned. "And the sorcerer's ring acts like a capacity core, so it amplifies that ability so that even a child like Mieu can breathe fire a good distance."

"Good idea, Luke, Mieu. Now we don't have to worry about being hampered by wet clothing if we run into monsters." Tear praised them.

"Yeah, I was a bit concerned about that also, it's good that Mieu can breathe fire like that." Luke said.

"And the best part is, I can do it all I want without getting tired!" Mieu exclaimed happily.

"But even so, it's a bit small to be of use in battle. But it is still a useful ability, Mieu." Tear told the young cheagle.

"Mieuuuu, you're right." Mieu said. "But I am glad to be of help in whatever way I can!"

They continued along the path, following about a step behind Mieu. As they got closer to their final destination, they met up with some ligers and the numbers grew. None of the ligers were too difficult to fight, even for just Luke and Tear. Even with their having to make sure the Fon Master and Mieu didn't get hurt, the battles were easy, as both of them were getting much better at supporting the other in battle.

After the long trek through the woods, they reached their destination. Mieu got to feel useful along the trip, as he was called upon to burn down some vines. Of course, Luke kept quiet about the fact that he could easily have cut them down with his sword, as he knew the young cheagle needed confidence for the upcoming attempts at negotiation with the ligers. He was doubtful that it was going to go as smoothly as most of the times he accompanied Natalia. He knew that was why he and Tear were along, in case it broke down and they needed to exterminate the ligers.

The entered a room, more like a lair than a room. A liger, much bigger than the others they met along the way there sat near a wall. There were eggs all over the room.

"This must be the queen's lair." Ion told them. "Mieu, if you would please speak with her."

The young cheagle bounced happily as it was time for him to do what he came to do. "Yes sir!" he answered happily, then spoke to the queen in his own language. "Mieu, mieu mieu mieu mieu mieu. Mieuuu mieu..."

The queen roared in response, it was such a loud roar that Mieu was knocked backwards. "What did she say?" Luke asked.

"She says her eggs are just about to hatch, so go away." Mieu replied.

"This is bad." Tear mentioned. "Liger young like to feed on human flesh. They could wipe out the entire village of Engeve if we don't do something."

"Mieu, can you ask her to leave this land?" Ion suggested.

"Y-yes, sir." Mieu said nervously to the young Fon Master before speaking again to the queen. Mieu, mieuu, mieu mieu..."

In response the giant liger roared again, louder this time. This time it not only knocked Mieu over, but caused part of the ceiling to come crashing down. Luke quickly noticed that part of it was about to his the young cheagle and deflected it with his sword.

"Th-thank you!" Mieu said gratefully. "She says she's going to kill us and feed us to her children."

"Mieu, Fon Master, step back. Here she comes!" Tear said getting in front of the two non-fighters. Luke quickly joined her before the queen came at them. They were able to fend off her initial attack with little issue, but realized that she was going to be harder to deal with than the smaller ligers they met on the way to her.

Even Tear's fonic hymn was of little help, it had no effect on the giant liger. Luke's attacks had some effect, but not enough. It seemed that no matter what he did, she still came after him. Tear did her best to support Luke and make sure any injuries he got were quickly dealt with, but she knew they wouldn't be able to go on for too much longer.

"Allow me..." a male voice said from behind Luke and Tear.

Luke didn't take his eyes off the queen, but Tear could see the man, he had long brown hair and glasses. He was also wearing a blue outfit that appeared to be a uniform, if she wasn't mistaken, it was a Malkuth military uniform. The voice sounded somewhat familiar also.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Leave the inquiry for later. I'll use fonic artes to take care of this. You make sure I have time to cast." The man told them as he drew a spear out of nowhere and prepared to cast a fonic arte.

"Let's leave this to him. We'll buy time by taking on the liger queen. Don't let her attacks hit him." Tear suggested.

Luke saw no issue with this plan, as long as this strange man was able to keep his end of the deal. He attacked the queen some more, this time using moves that would keep her occupied with trying to attack him rather than Tear or the stranger.

The stranger cast his arte with no issues. The ground shook and sharp rocks came out from the ground, impaling the queen upon them. Luke moved closer to make sure she was indeed truly dead, and she was.

Now Luke finally turned around so he could face this stranger who just appeared in the midst of battle and quite possibly saved their lives. He didn't recognize the man himself, but he definitely recognized the blue uniform of the Malkuth military. However, Luke knew better than to show that this bothered him, as he was the enemy in Malkuth lands, not the other way around. That and this man helped him.

"Thank you for your assistance. My name is Luke, my companions are Fon Master Ion, and Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants. Might I asked who you are?"

"I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces" the man answered Luke, then turned to Ion.

"...Jade, I'm sorry for running off and doing this." The young Fon Master said in answer to Jade's gaze upon him.

"It's unlike you to do something like this when you know it's wrong." Jade admonished him."

"So you know Colonel Curtiss, Fon Master?" Luke asked.

"Yes, I do, Luke. He and I were awaiting a message in Engeve when the matter with the cheagles came up. Since we were still waiting, I thought I would investigate in the meantime," Ion explained. "Together with Yulia, the cheagles are the foundation of the Order of Lorelei. I felt I had to take responsibility for any trouble they had caused..."

"And that's why you used your power?" the Colonel admonished Ion again. "Didn't the doctor tell you not to? And not only that, but you involved a civilian as well."

"…I'm sorry." Ion apologized sheepishly.

"Colonel Curtiss, it is not a problem. I had something I needed to do here anyhow." Luke said, hoping to ease the situation a bit.

"Oh? I thought you would be upset at having been involved." Jade said.

"No, not at all. It was my pleasure to be of assistance to the Fon Master." Luke told him.

"If that is the case, then I won't lecture Ion any further." Jade said. "We don't have much time anyway."

"Did the message arrive then?" Ion eagerly said.

"Yes. Now, let's get out of this forest." Jade ordered, and turned on his heel about to leave.

Upon hearing that, Mieu bounced over and tried to get their attention. "No. We have to report to the elder.

Jade quickly looked back and saw the young cheagle. "…A cheagle speaking a human language?"

"It's the power of the Sorcerer's Ring. Jade, could we stop by the cheagles' home?" Ion pleaded with the colonel.

"All right. But please don't forget that we haven't much time." Jade allowed, before starting to walk off. The others followed. Since they no longer needed Mieu to lead the way, Tear allowed him to ride on her shoulder, which also allowed them to travel at a faster pace back to where the cheagle elder was.

When they arrived, Mieu hopped off Tear's shoulder and stepped off to confer with the elder. They spoke in their own language, so the others could not understand what they were saying.

"It's quite amusing to watch monsters talk like this." Jade mentioned.

"...They're so cute!" Tear said. Luke just looked at her as she said that, which caused her to blush with embarrassment at him noticing her weakness.

The elder came over to them, she was holding the sorcerer's ring again, and she spoke to the group. "Mieu told me what happened. You met with great danger on our behalf. We are grateful that you have kept your promise even after 2000 years." The elder held something out, it was his ring. "I give this back to you with our apologies that it was taken." Luke let out a sigh of relief at having his ring back and put it on his left hand.

"Thank you, elder." Luke said graciously. "I am glad you were able to find it, it is very dear to me."

"But the original cause of all this was Mieu burning the ligers' home. So I will have Mieu atone for his mistake." The elder cheagle continued.

"In what way?" Tear inquired.

"I will exile Mieu from our tribe." The elder said.

"That's too cruel." Ion said.

"Naturally, I don't mean forever. I hear that Master Luke saved Mieu's life. Cheagles do not forget their debts. Mieu will serve Master Luke for one cycle of seasons. Mieu insists upon accompanying you, Master Luke. I leave it up to you to decide what to do with him." The elder explained.

"I'll do my best to be useful, Master!" Mieu said excitedly. Luke tried very hard not to groan at the fact that he was going to have to hear that annoying voice every day. Perhaps Natalia would think him cute.

"Well, it appears his report has ended. Let's leave the forest." Jade told them, as he turned to leave the cheagle's nesting area. Luke and the others followed and they walked the short way back to the entrance. Once they reached the entrance, they saw the girl who was at the inn the night before asking about Ion.

"Isn't that your guardian, Fon Master?" Luke asked.

"Yes, that's Anise." Ion told Luke.

Anise came running towards them in greeting. "Welcome back!" she said exuberantly.

"Greetings, Anise." Jade greeted the girl as if he knew her well. "What's the status of the Tartarus?"

"It's in front of the forest, just like you asked." She answered excitedly.

"Wait a second, what's going on here?" Luke asked, suddenly suspicious of this man.

"Restrain those two. They're the ones who've been emitting the Seventh Fonons." Jade ordered. Upon hearing his order, some solders came from behind him to restrain Luke and Tear.

"Jade! Don't do anything to hurt them…" Ion pleaded.

"Don't worry. We won't kill them. Assuming they don't resist." Jade answered.

Luke and Tear were far from reassured by that statement, but there was little they could do. It was not that much of a surprise that the Malkuth military was searching for them.

Luke knew better than to resist. If he did so, it could cause many problems if his actual identity were found out, which it likely will be found shortly. The Colonel seemed like a man who was quite good at his work and would have what he wanted from him and Tear. The soldiers had them quickly restrained, since they did not resist.

"Be good, kids." Jade said to Luke and Tear, then turned to the soldiers. "Take them away!"

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 


	7. Taken Aboard the Tartarus

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Not much in the way of notes beforehand here, as the God-Generals want me to get on with it already, they have been waiting long enough to appear, so I will save it for the end. Enjoy!

* * *

Colonel Jade Curtiss, along with a few extra soldiers, led his two prisoners aboard the giant landship that was indeed nearby awaiting his return. Once inside, he found an empty cabin and dismissed the soldiers, except for two who were to stand guard outside. 

Fon Master Ion, along with his excitable guardian, Anise, also accompanied the two prisoners into the room. Ion did attempt to plead with the older man for the freedom of the two who helped him in the matter with the cheagles, unfortunately Jade would not agree. All he would agree to was to not mistreat them as long as they cooperated and answered his questions. Then he would see what needed to be done. Ion realized that was quite the concession, considering Jade and how twisted he could be, and accepted it for now. He never could figure out what was going on in the Colonel's head, though he likely had some sort of idea as to how these two could be of assistance, especially if Luke was who he thought he was.

Jade motioned to a table that had some seats around it. "Please, be seated. As long as both of you cooperate and answer my questions, you won't be hurt, for now at least."

Luke glared at the man. "Fine, but I don't promise you'll like all the answers."

Jade smirked in response to that. He knew the redhead likely was indeed correct, but he would have the answers. "We will just have to see about that, won't we?" he responded. "Anyway, the Seventh Fonon hyperresonance came from the direction of the capital of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and converged inside Malkuth territory near Tataroo Valley. Now, if you two were the source of that hyperresonance, that would make you guilty of illegally crossing the border into our country, wouldn't it? Were you two indeed the cause?"

"If we were, it wasn't by choice." Luke answered.

"Oh? Then maybe you could kindly explain what happened, along with who you really are since you have yet to provide a last name?" the Colonel asked.

"If you insist. My full name is Luke fon Fabre." Luke answered.

"The son of Duke Fabre? Also if I recall correctly, you married Princess Natalia and became the heir to the throne a little over a year ago?" Jade interrupted.

"You do recall correctly, but I'm sure you would be happy to hear that my father was murdered not long ago, if you had not already heard about it." Luke mentioned with growing annoyance at this man.

For just a moment, Jade showed a bit of surprise, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving Luke to wonder if he had been seeing things or not. "Ah yes, I heard about that. Terrible thing it was, such a shame." Jade answered. "Anyway, please, do continue."

"You liar." Luke said under his breath before continuing. "Anyway, as I would have continued had someone not interrupted me asking about my wife and family, I was visiting my mother who had been ill. My sword master, Van Grants, came to see me. While we were speaking, 'someone' broke into the manor. That same 'someone' ended up falling on top of me, and then I woke up later in Tataroo Valley."

"And judging from the shade of red Tear's face turned each time you said 'someone', I would register a guess that she was the invader." Jade mentioned.

"That would be a correct guess." Luke told him.

"So I think the question now is, why didn't you just go back to your kingdom? You were indeed much closer to it while in Tataroo Valley." Jade inquired further of the redhead and his companion.

"That was my fault." Tear interjected after remaining silent so long. "I misunderstood the coachman we found in the valley and by the time we realized the error, we could not go back, as Rotelro Bridge was destroyed."

"Ah, so you two were in that coach." Jade mentioned. "That makes sense then."

"Jade, why don't we ask for their help?" Ion inquired. "It's obvious that they are here by accident, not as an act of aggression."

Jade remained silent for just a mere second, as if he were considering it before saying to Luke and Tear, "We're headed for Kimlasca under orders from His Majesty, Peony the Ninth, Emperor of Malkuth."

"To declare war then? Am I to be a hostage?" Luke asked.

"Luke, you got it all wrong, we are trying to prevent a war." Anise declared.

Jade glared at the young Fon Master Guardian. "Anise, that isn't public information." He admonished her. "Luke, Tear, I will go ahead and release both of you and grant permission for you to go into any area you wish, apart from those containing military secrets, of course. Think over if you could trust us enough to help us prevent a war."

"How are you going to expect us to help?" Luke asked.

"I can't explain that at this time." Jade answered. "If I explain everything and you decide not to aid us, I would indeed have to hold you captive. I think you can understand that holding the royal heir captive isn't a way to keep the peace."

"That is indeed true." Luke agreed. "My Uncle and wife would be very upset if Malkuth were to hold me captive, and that could very well cause a war by itself. I will assist you though; you saved the lives of myself and Tear with your timely intervention in the Cheagle Woods. The least I can do is assist you in whatever way I can with peace efforts. But I only can speak for myself."

"If Luke agrees, I do also. If the Fon Master is providing assistance, then I should also. Luke is also correct; you saved our lives, Colonel, so we owe you our assistance." Tear added.

"Good. Now I don't need to come up with an explanation on why you are with the Malkuth military." Jade answered. "Anyway, recently there have been small localized conflicts, mostly in areas closer to the border. It is very likely that soon these will escalate into a full scale war. After all, the truce from the Hod War is only 15 years old."

"Emperor Peony requested my aid as a neutral ambassador to carry a letter to Kimlasca. The letter proposes a formal peace treaty." Ion mentioned.

"Wait a second, then why is it that you are believed to be missing? Master Van mentioned that he was ordered to return to Daath to head up a search party for you." Luke inquired of the Fon Master.

"That is due to matters within the Order of Lorelei." Ion tried to explain.

"A conflict is unfolding between the reformist Fon Master faction, centered around Ion, and the conservative Grand Maestro faction, centered around Grand Maestro Mohs." Jade explained further.

"Mohs is looking for a war. I managed to escape from Mohs' custody with the help of the Malkuth military." Ion explained.

"So that would explain why they thought you missing." Luke said.

"Fon Master Ion! With all due respect, Grand Maestro Mohs is not looking for a war. His only wish is to uphold the Score."

"Tear, you are with the Grand Maestro Faction?" Anise interjected after remaining silent for a time.

"No, I am neutral. The Score is important, but so are the Fon Master's wishes." Tear explained.

"Well, now that we have that out of the way, what is our part in this?" Luke asked before this escalated into an argument and they forgot the matter at hand.

"It's very simple really. We may be emissaries of peace, but the Fon Master is being escorted by the army of the enemy. There will likely be trouble with our crossing the border. If we delay, then the Grand Maestro Faction will catch up to us and interfere. Your standing in Kimlasca will be of great help to us."

"You do realize that I lack a passport to get across the border, as I don't usually carry it on me." Luke mentioned.

"By the time we get there, your disappearance from Baticul likely will be known to the border patrols." Jade added.

"And of course, all the better that Malkuth assists the royal heir in returning home after he mysteriously vanishes from his parent's home?" Luke mentioned. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the assistance in getting home, it likely will shorten the trip greatly, but don't think I don't see through this generous offer."

"I didn't take you for an idiot." Jade said. "You are correct, giving safe conduct to the royal heir can only help our cause, but that wasn't the reason why you were arrested. All we ask is that you do what you can to aid this mission of peace."

"That should be no problem. The only issue is likely to be the lack of passports on the part of myself and Tear. But I will do all in my power to assist you until you leave Kimlasca." Luke agreed.

"Jade, if you will excuse me, I think I will go get some air on the deck. Discussions like this are tiring." Ion asked.

"Of course. We are finished anyhow, unless there are any questions?" Jade said to everyone. Having been given leave to go, Ion left the room.

"I have no questions." Luke answered.

"Neither do I." Tear also replied.

"Then I must excuse myself so I can attend to my duties as commander of this ship." Jade said. "In the meantime, I am sure Anise would be happy to show both of you around." Jade turned and left the room. Once the Malkuth soldier had left, Anise came running over to speak with Luke and Tear.

"Wow! I didn't suspect you were royalty when I saw you in the Cheagle Woods." Anise gleefully said. "That is so neat. I bet you are quite rich. It's a shame you're already married though."

"What does my marriage have to do with anything?" Luke asked, causing Tear to laugh and Anise to blush.

"Nothing. I was just making conversation." Anise answered, while looking at the floor.

"In other words, she wants to say she is attracted to you, but can't do anything since you are taken." Tear explained.

"No, that's not it at all!" Anise said trying to change the subject. "Anyway, you want that tour?"

"Sure. It would be nice to know my way around if we are going to be on this ship until we reach Kimlasca." Luke answered and stood up.

"Then let's go. I'll show you everything you need to see." Anise said excitedly as she headed towards the door. Tear got up and followed her and was in turn flowed by Luke and Mieu. The young cheagle had remained amazingly quiet during the whole thing at Luke's feet.

They exited the cabin. Both Luke and Tear were glad to get up and stretch their legs at last. In the hallway they saw Jade who was fiddling with what appeared to be some sort of contraption on the wall.

"Ah, Anise, giving them the grand tour then?" Jade inquired of the young girl.

"Of course!" she said excitedly.

However, whatever Jade was going to say to the young Fon Master guardian was cut off by an alarm suddenly going off.

"What was that?" Luke asked.

Jade pressed some buttons in the device he had been fiddling with before Luke and the others came over and spoke into it. "Bridge, what's going on?"

The response from the bridge was able to be heard by all of them, "A large flock of griffins 20 kilometers ahead! Total number unknown! Contact in approximately 10 minutes! Commander, requesting permission to open fire with all cannons."

"You're the captain. The ship is yours." Jade responded.

"Understood sir." The bridge announced in response. "Large swarm of monsters 20 kilometers ahead. All hands, battle stations! Repeat! All hands, battle stations!"

"You three, return to the cabin." Jade ordered.

The group tried to move, but suddenly the whole ship shook from something that tilted the entire hallway. Jade braced himself with the wall that had the communicator. Tear and Anise were able to brace themselves on walls also. Unfortunately Luke wasn't so lucky and he fell to the ground in front of the group.

"Bridge, what's wrong?" Jade said into the communicator.

"Ligers are dropping from the griffins! They're clinging to the hull and attacking! Engineering is--Uaaah!" the captain responded before the communication went out.

While the Colonel knew it was futile, he tried to see if he could get a response, "Bridge! Respond! Bridge!"

The shaking continued, Luke tried to get up, but each time he did so, he kept getting knocked back down, so instead he tried to get closer to the wall and see if he could stand while bracing himself.

"You three, get in the cabin now, its going to get dangerous in here fast!" Jade ordered.

Right after Jade gave that order, a very large man wearing a red and black uniform and carrying a scythe as tall as he was entered the hallway with two soldiers wearing plate armor. "That's right." He said.

Jade began to cast a fonic arte in defense. The strange man came forward a few steps while he did so. Jade finished casting and the two soldiers with the strange man were knocked out of the hallway by a large bolt of lightning. The strange man countered with a similar attack that Luke barely managed to dodge. Suddenly thrown off balance, he found himself pinned against the wall by the man's scythe over his neck.

"...Impressive. But it's time for you to calm down. Now. Colonel Jade Curtiss, Commander of the Third Division of the Malkuth Imperial Forces...Or maybe just, 'Jade the Necromancer.'" The strange man taunted.

"Jade the Necromancer? That's you Colonel?" Tear exclaimed.

"Well, well. It seems I'm famous." Jade commented. "But I am afraid my stories have nothing on you ' Largo the Black Lion' one of the God-Generals of the Order of Lorelei." Jade responded.

"Heh... I've been waiting for a chance to cross blades with you, but, unfortunately, right now I must retrieve Fon Master Ion." Largo said.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that." Jade said as he prepared to attack again.

"Don't move, unless you want this boy's head to roll…" Largo threatened Jade, causing Jade to take a step backwards and away from Luke. "Letting you go now will only mean trouble later."

"Do you really think you can kill me by yourself?" Jade taunted.

"If I seal your fonic artes…" Largo mulled and then suddenly pulled out a small box and tossed it towards Jade. The box opened above him and formed a barrier around the Malkuth Colonel.

"A fon slot seal?" Tear questioned.

"Argh." Jade fell to his knees within the barrier. Then as suddenly as the barrier appeared, it was gone. Then suddenly a spear came out of Jade's arm and he lunged at the large God-General. Largo quickly moved his own weapon away from Luke and lunged at Jade. Both missed each other, however. They quickly turned and faced each other.

"Mieu, fifth fonon at the ceiling, now!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Mieu nervously responded and bounced upward and breathed a stream of fire towards the ceiling, which caused a blinding light to shine, Largo fell to his knees as he covered his eyes from the light.

"Now! Anise, get Ion!" Jade ordered the young girl.

"I'm on it!" She said as she ran by.

In a voice that could only be heard by Anise as she was next to him, "I trust you know where to meet?" he asked.

"Don't worry!" Anise said and kept on running out.

"Oh no you don't!" Largo said, as he tried to stand back up.

Then suddenly Jade came running by and stabbed Largo while Tear cast the same fonic hymn she used in the manor to put everyone asleep. With this, Largo was no longer a threat to them.

Jade then came over to Luke and offered his hand to help him up. "Are you injured?" he asked pulling the boy up to a standing position.

"I don't think so." He answered.

"Good. Anise will take care of Ion. It's up to us to take back the bridge." Jade said.

"But Colonel, your fon slots were sealed." Tear mentioned.

"Yes, and it likely will take many months to undo the seal. But between your hymns and Luke's sword, we should be able to take back the bridge."

"All right." Tear said. "Luke, are you sure you are all right?"

"Yeah." He answered. "Sorry, I couldn't be of more help then."

"You're a civilian, we understand that." She said. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"I should be fine." He answered. "I've fought before, just not in close quarters like that. And it's rather disturbing to have a weapon as large and sharp as that one right against your neck."

Tear smiled, glad to see he was acting more like his normal self. He must have been rather scared when Largo threatened his life. She had to admit, she might have felt the same had it been her. "Then let's go before they find out what happened."

They left the hallway and made it out to the deck. There were monsters everywhere. Thankfully, the bridge wasn't too far from where they came out onto the deck. They made a run for the bridge and luckily met up with very few monsters, those they did meet up with were quickly dealt with.

They reached the entrance to the bridge and two Oracle Knights were guarding the door. To keep the element of surprise for when they tried to take back the bridge, Tear cast her fonic hymn on them and put them to sleep.

"Luke, Tear and I will go in. You stay out here with Mieu and make sure the soldiers don't wake up and if any others come, do whatever it takes to keep them from coming inside." Jade ordered.

"I understand. No one will get inside." Luke answered. Tear and Jade went inside, leaving Luke with Mieu.

Luke sighed. He knew he was left with this because they couldn't depend on him to be able to react the way they would need him to. Not that they didn't need someone to keep out reinforcements, but it looked like none were coming any time soon, and these two didn't appear to be waking up any time soon either.

Then suddenly someone came down from above. Luke backed up quickly putting his back to the door so whoever this was didn't get any advantage over him. It was another soldier in a black uniform, but this time instead of being red and black, it was a blue-green and black. All Luke could see of him at this time was the back of the soldier's long jacket that was black with a blue-green trim. He looked up at the man, who was reasonably tall, likely around six feet in height, if not a bit over. And then he saw blonde hair, familiar blonde hair at that.

The soldier turned around. His face was hidden behind a black mask with a blue-green design on it that covered most of his face hiding who he was.

"Ah, fancy meeting you here, Luke." The mysterious God-General said. "I admit, it was a shame we couldn't talk more the last we met. Couldn't miss my ship, you understand."

"I-it can't be." Luke stammered.

"So, did you enjoy the present I left in your parent's manor? That lovely work of art I made just for your enjoyment? I enjoyed every moment of making it, all for you."

"You bastard!" Luke screamed as he drew his sword and lunged at the man whose identity he now knew. The man quickly stepped to the side and dodged him, causing Luke to lose his footing.

Then suddenly another voice could be heard from above. "Nepenthes! Save the poetics for the women when you are off-duty. You have your orders, follow them!" A woman's voice said from above. Then the woman jumped down to join him, which blocked Luke's view of the other God-General. She was almost as tall as her fellow God-General, and instead wearing a uniform of a very dark brown that was almost black and white. Her blue-violet hair was cut short and she had a patch over her left eye, which showed she had been in her fair share of combat before.

"I got this one covered." The blonde God-General said to the female who joined him.

Luke looked over at them from his vantage point behind them. He was about to wonder how he was going to deal with the two of them when the woman came at him in a quick motion and grabbed his arms, preventing him from taking any action.

"Sure you did. I will deal with this boy so you don't decide to take matters into your own hands and kill him. Go find his companions while I take him to a cabin and restrain him." She ordered.

The blonde haired God-General glared at her, but followed orders and went inside the bridge. The female God-General then knocked Luke out and put him over her shoulder and appeared to not be bothered by his weight. She departed with him as quickly as she arrived.

-----

He had no idea how much time had passed when he awoke in one of the cabins. He found himself lying in bed. Well, at least that female God-General had the decency to make him comfortable. He sat up and realized too late that he was still a bit dizzy from being knocked unconscious by her. His vision blurred and he almost hit his head on the wall as he tried to sit up.

"Master!" an excited voice said.

"Careful, Luke." A female voice said. "Someone or something knocked you out, and you shouldn't try to get up too fast. Give yourself a moment."

He sat perfectly still and let his vision clear. He then saw that Tear and the Colonel were in the cabin with him, and Mieu was sitting in his lap. "I see you two got captured also then." He said, grimacing as pain shot through him from the not so gentle treatment he must have gotten.

"You were supposed to keep out the reinforcements you know." Jade admonished. "We were handling things fine until another God-General showed up."

"And right before that we heard you yelling something and were about to come out and help when he showed up." Tear explained. "He quickly overpowered us, and you were gone when he took us outside."

"Did he have blonde hair and a mask?" Luke asked.

Tear looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, he did. Why do you ask that?"

"That was the bastard who murdered my father!" Luke exclaimed. "He even taunted me about what he did." He explained.

"Luke…" Tear started to say, but Luke turned away from both of them. She turned to Jade, "Colonel, I think we are going to need to come up with another plan. We can't expect Luke to be able to keep calm in this situation."

"Exactly my thoughts." Jade answered her. "That and we seem to be very much outnumbered, even if his father's murderer wasn't here. Anise has the letter, our best option at this point would be to escape and try to get Ion away from them somehow."

"Do you have a plan then?" Tear asked.

"Of course." Jade explained.

"Okay, what do you need us to do?" Tear asked.

"Luke, do you think you can stand?" Jade asked trying to get the redhead's attention.

"Jade, I don't think I can be of help in this." Luke replied.

"Don't worry about that, you will be of help later once we are off this ship." Jade told him. "Tear, help him up. We just need to make sure he wasn't injured too badly when brought here."

Tear walked over to him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. "Luke, we need to make sure you are okay. You did say you needed to get home to your mother and wife correct?" he nodded in response. "The Colonel has a plan to get us out of here, so we can get to Baticul." She removed her hand from his shoulder and held it out in front of him to help him up, he took it, and was able to stand on his own without any issues.

"Good, it looks like his nap was enough for him to recover from whatever happened out there." Jade said. "Now, I will need both of you to follow me once I get this door open."

He moved over to a panel on the side of the door and pressed a few buttons and the door opened. All three of them then exited the cabin carefully, keeping an eye out for any soldiers who might be patrolling the area. Strangely enough, there were none at this time. Jade quickly located a communications device and spoke into it, "By my name as Necromancer, heed my command. Initiate emergency plan, 'Corpse Hunt.'"

No sooner had he finished, the power on the ship completely shut down, save for a few scattered emergency lights. "It's an emergency shutdown system I set up in advance. It should take them some time to recover."

"And that gives us time to get out of here while they are distracted." Tear realized.

"Yes. While you were unconscious, Luke, we overheard that Ion had been taken off the ship and should be returned to it soon. We will make our way to the port hatch and rescue Ion as he is being returned. Tear and I will handle any escort he has; you will get Ion away from the escort and make a run for it. Got it?" Jade inquired of Luke.

"All right." He replied.

"Just keep on running for as long as you and Ion can." Jade continued. "Just keep on following the road and head to St. Binah. It should be the closest town. If we don't find you on the road, go to the Malkuth Military Headquarters in St. Binah with Ion and await us there. But don't hesitate to rest if you or Ion need it. Both of you need to remain in good health, understood?"

"I understand." Luke answered.

"Good. Let's get to the port hatch before Ion's escort arrives."

They made their way to the port hatch. Due to the power failure, there were few soldiers to be found on the way up. The monsters were also fewer in number now. The group was able to make their way to the port hatch with very little trouble. Jade got the door open right away and took a quick look outside.

"They haven't arrived yet." Jade informed them. "Let's find some cover. When they arrive, I will signal to both of you when to go after them. Tear, you put to sleep as many of them as you can, then attack. Luke, just grab Ion and run."

"Got it." Both of them responded in unison. Then they found a hiding place among some trees that were nearby. They watched and waited for Ion's return.

Their wait was not long, a group came up shortly after they reached their place of hiding. It was actually a rather small group, only consisting of one God-General and four Oracle Knights. The God-General was leading the group, and Ion was surrounded by the Oracle Knights. Tear readied herself to sing her hymn the moment she saw the signal, and Luke got himself poised to head in there. The signal came and Luke took off towards the group as Tear started casting.

The moment Luke reached the group, Tear's hymn did its job, the Oracle Knights surrounding Ion were asleep. This made Luke's job easy, he took Ion by the hand and dragged him away from the group while Jade and Tear went in and kept the God-General too busy to follow.

The God-General tried to stop Luke. She pulled out two guns and started shooting at him, but all her shots missed. Jade grabbed her from behind to stop her from shooting at Luke and Ion.

"Major Legretta!" Tear exclaimed.

The female God-General then got a good look at Tear. "Tear Grants?"

"Tear! Your hymn!" Jade commanded.

Tear began casting her hymn while Jade continued to restrain Legretta. The hymn unfortunately did not completely put Legretta to sleep, she did slump in Jade's grip a bit. Jade finished the job with a quick hit to the jaw, knocking her unconscious.

"Tear, tie her up if you can, then we have to get away from here." Jade commanded.

She was able to restrain the older female God-General, it wasn't much, as it was only some spare strips of fabric she had to use as bandages in case of an emergency, but it would be enough to delay her if she came to quickly. Once finished, she and Jade left the area and headed towards the road to St. Binah.

They indeed hoped they would catch up to Luke and Ion quickly.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 

Further notes: Since I had a well, kinda new character appear and be named, there are a few things that need to be explained so further things that rely on knowledge of his name make some sense. The name Nepenthes is a bit of a joke itself. Guy's real name in the game, Gailardia, was a type of flower, actually a type of sunflower. Of course, he couldn't keep that name as a God-General, so I thought, why not give a similar type of name, but a more deadly version?

So Nepenthes was what I came up with. It's a rather interesting type of a flower. The flower itself is considered carnivorous , like a Venus Fly Trap. But also the name given to it in Greek means without sorrow. It also is a drug of forgetfulness in Greek mythology.

If interested in further info, there is a wikipedia article on the flower. I unfortunately cannot include a direct link, but its easily found just searching for the name.

I mention this, because the likelihood of my having something referring to this information in future chapters is very high, and well, humor tends to work best when its understood.

And the other new character? That's my little secret, til the next chapter at least.


	8. Stopping Off At St Binah

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Not much in the way of notes beforehand here, as Dist is complaining about his lack of appearance in the last chapter, sheesh, at least Arietta can keep her mouth shut after getting no lines but being involved, and Sync also isn't complaining either.

Also, I want to thank my loyal readers for 1000 hits to this fic in total! Wow, that is just awesome!

* * *

"Luke! Slow down!" a very tired voice called out from behind him. 

The young redhead stopped in his tracks upon hearing that voice and turned around. "Fon Master! Are you all right? Do you need to rest?"

The green haired boy caught up to Luke and shook his head. "No, I am fine for now. But we are far enough away that we can slow down a bit." He said. "However, you seem to be troubled, what is the matter?"

"Nothing happened!" he answered in such a forceful manner that the Fon Master appeared frightened.

"Are you sure?" he inquired gently. "Perhaps it would help to talk about it. But if you won't talk about it, I am sure I can ask Jade what happened."

He obviously wouldn't let up, and the Malkuth Colonel likely would make him appear rather foolish in the telling, so it was likely best to say it now. "Fine, I will tell you as we walk towards St. Binah. Let's get going." He answered and started walking further along the road they were on at a slower pace. The Fon Master kept pace beside him.

"I definitely learned in that attack that when it comes to a real battle, I am pathetic. I may be fine in dealing with bandits and monsters along the road, but I couldn't even keep my cool in an actual battle." Luke started to say.

"Luke, perhaps you are just being hard on yourself. You are a civilian, not a solider like Tear and Jade. At least you can fight to protect yourself, many civilians can't." Ion said trying to make him feel better.

"No, I am not being hard on myself. While I might have gotten away with being stupidly pinned against a wall, my inability later was inexcusable." Luke explained.

"What do you mean?" Ion inquired.

"Jade and Tear had me act as lookout. Likely it was because they wanted to give me something to do since I showed I couldn't fight in close quarters. Then I even failed as a lookout, and both of them got captured because of my stupid inability to remain calm." He explained.

"I am sure you did your best." Ion said. "And you realize where you went wrong, so you can learn from the experience."

"I'm not so sure I won't make the same mistake again though." Luke remarked.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Luke." Ion said.

"But I saw the man who murdered my father! How can I make sure he is brought to justice if I can't stay calm enough to do so?" Luke asked him.

"Ah, that explains it." Ion said. "I understand now why you feel that way. But you don't have to be the one who brings him to justice. There is nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it. If you tell me who this man was, or even describe him if you didn't get his name, I will do what I can to aid you."

"Thank you, Fon Master." Luke said, relieved. "But I don't know how much you can do. He was one of the Oracle Knights, and he appeared to be one of Master Van's subordinates. The other one who arrived called him Nepenthes."

Ion paled when he heard the name. He knew exactly who Luke was speaking of, he was relatively new among the God-Generals, and while in the lowest position among them as commander of Special Operations, he was feared by his peers. Even Van feared him to some degree and had difficultly keeping him in line. "I will see what can be done. The Order most definitely does not condone his actions, and I hope you don't think ill of the Order because of it."

"Of course not. One person is not representative of the entire Order of Lorelei." Luke told the Fon Master, who looked relieved. "I thank you for any assistance you can provide. And you were right, it did help to talk about it."

"It usually does." The young Fon Master agreed. "One person can only do so much, even ones as important as you or I. And speaking of only able to do so much, I think we should get some rest."

Luke did notice Ion was looking rather tired, which was not surprising, they had gone a reasonable pace for a good distance. He looked around quickly and saw that off the road a bit was some trees which would be a good place to hide in case any Oracle Knights happened to be following. "Let's go over there in those trees so we can keep out of sight in case of pursuit." He suggested.

"Good idea. I am just worried about Jade and Tear being able to find us." Ion said concerned.

"I don't think we should worry. Jade seemed the type who knows everything and he likely will know exactly how far we can go before one of us gets tired. So let's get some rest off the path and maybe they will arrive soon."

"You're right, Luke." Ion agreed.

They left the road and went into the forested area. Ion, having found that he was more tired than he thought quickly fell asleep, leaving Luke alone with his thoughts, as Mieu wandered off to find something to eat.

_Coward… _

_Had you kept your calm you would have gotten your revenge on him _

Then all of a sudden he heard a sound. His hand quickly grasped the hilt of his sword, ready to attack whoever or whatever was there. He took a quick look over his shoulder and saw nothing.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Looks like you are protecting Ion well, but you can put the sword away." A sarcastic sounding voice said from behind him.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief and turned towards where the voice came from. "Took you long enough." He said to the long haired man.

"Well, my old bones can only take so much." The Colonel answered, shrugging his shoulders.

"Old, huh?" Luke said. "Sure you are…"

"Anyway, did you two encounter any problems?" Jade asked him.

"No, you're the first person I've seen." He answered.

"Good. Ion can rest a bit longer, as he likely needs it. Then we will continue on to St. Binah." Jade stated.

"Where is Tear?" Luke asked.

"Keeping watch for Oracle Knights." Jade explained. "And what happened to your little cheagle friend?"

"Mieu? He must have wandered off to find something to eat, I guess." Luke answered.

"Who went to get food?" a tired voice said. "I am kind of hungry, actually."

"Ah, good that you are awake, Ion." Jade said to the young Fon Master. "Do you think you could wait until we get to St. Binah though?"

"If it isn't too far." Ion answered the Colonel.

"An hour, maybe two by foot if we leave right away." Jade informed him.

"I am ready to go then." Ion told him.

"We will leave once Mieu gets back then, as I would hate for Luke to lose his new pet." Jade told Ion. As if summoned by the older man, the small blue cheagle came bouncing over to them.

"It seems Jade has cheagle summoning powers, despite his fon slots having been sealed." The young redhead remarked.

"I would not go so far as to say that…" the Malkuth Colonel remarked, which caused Luke to roll his eyes in response. The small cheagle ignored this exchanged and jumped up into Luke's arms and then bounced onto his shoulder. "Well, shall we depart then?" the Colonel inquired.

Luke merely nodded in response. Jade walked ahead towards where he left Tear while Luke and Ion followed.

"No signs of pursuit yet, Colonel." The long haired Oracle Knight informed the Malkuth Colonel when the group reached the place where she stood watch. "However, we should be on our way before they can catch up to us."

"That is indeed our plan." Jade agreed.

Having agreed upon a plan, they departed for St. Binah. Besides some monsters attacking, the trip was completely uneventful. The monsters were not anything to worry about, but fighting them went a long way towards giving Luke back his much needed confidence about his fighting skills.

After an hour and a half of walking the group could finally see the walls around St. Binah along with the infamous giant tree St. Binah was famous for. A short walk then brought them to the walls of the city.

As the group arrived, a wagon filled with food also arrived. At the gate, standing guard, there were two knights wearing the distinctive plate mail of the Oracle Knights. Thankfully the wagon provided enough of a distraction for the guard that the group was able to quickly find a hiding place before they were seen.

"Who goes there?" they could hear one of the groups ask the driver of the wagon.

"I'm from Engeve, here to fulfill a purchase order." The driver informed the guard.

"Proceed." The guard said.

"There should be another wagon arriving shortly also." The driver told the guard, who did not respond. The wagon then lurched forward through the gate.

"Looks like they arrived ahead of us." Luke mentioned.

"Shall we go meet the other wagon?" Jade suggested.

"You really think we can get in that way?" Luke asked him.

"They would be happy to assist the Fon Master." Jade answered. "But if we don't leave to find the wagon, it won't do us much good."

They departed back down the road towards Engeve until the second wagon was sighted. Fon Master Ion and Colonel Curtiss got the attention of the wagon, as the driver likely did not know Luke and Tear.

"Colonel Curtiss, what brings you here?" the woman driving the wagon asked to the Malkuth Colonel.

"Ah, Rose. We seem to be having some trouble." Jade told her. "Would you mind allowing myself and the three others with me to ride in the wagon into St. Binah?"

"I won't ask why." She said. "But if you need a ride, I am glad to be of aid. Hop on in."

The small group got into the back of the wagon and hid themselves from view. It was hard to make themselves comfortable, but what mattered was that they were all hidden from view, not comfort. The ride was not a long one before they again reached the gates of St. Binah and were stopped by the Oracle Knights standing guard.

"Who goes there?" the guard asked.

"I am from Engeve to make a delivery. There should have been another wagon ahead of this one." The woman told the guards.

"Proceed." The guard said as he allowed the wagon in.

This wagon then lurched forward, bringing the party through the gate along with the people from Engeve. The wagon met up with the one from earlier that was already unloading goods and stopped. The group got out.

"Thank you, Rose." Jade told the woman. "You assistance was most helpful. I am in your debt."

"It was no problem, Colonel, Fon Master." The woman, Rose, told him before she left to join the driver of the other wagon.

Jade then led the way towards a building in the center of the city which happened to serve as a headquarters for the Malkuth Military along with being the residence of the mayor. It also appeared to be the largest building in the city, as the only thing larger was the giant tree St. Binah was famous for, the Soil tree.

They walked up to the headquarters and then Jade stepped ahead to speak with the soldier standing outside the door. "I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces. May I speak with General Glenn McGovern?" he asked the soldier.

"Yes, sir. General McGovern is currently seeing someone, so please wait inside." the soldier answered Jade.

The group then walked inside, they could overhear a conversation currently taking place, "Father, we've already been over this. Officially, the Oracle Knights are considered Scorers. We can't restrict their actions without a direct order from His Imperial Majesty." one voice said.

"Enough!" another voice, this one much older, responded. While he continued to speak, Jade made his way into the room they were speaking in. "You know how terrible the Hod War became with their involvement!"

Jade chose this moment to speak. "My apologies for interrupting..." he interjected, which startled the older man.

"Jade the Necromancer..." the younger man said.

"Oh! If it isn't Jade!" the older man exclaimed.

"It's been a while, Field Marshal McGovern." Jade said to the older man.

"I'm retired now. There's no need for those formalities anymore. And what about you? Don't you think it's about time you accepted a promotion? Even at your age, you could have easily made lieutenant general by now." The older man told Jade.

"Oh, I don't know. I think I have my hands full just being a colonel." Jade said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You and His Majesty go way back, don't you? Could you ask him to do something about the Oracle Knights?" the retired Field Marshal asked Jade.

"I'm afraid they're after us. Once we leave the city, they should leave as well." Jade informed him.

"What's happened?" the older man asked.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you the details. I'm under direct orders from His Majesty. I'm sorry." Jade apologized.

"Colonel Curtiss. What business brings you here?" the General asked Jade.

"Ah, yes, my apologies. Have you received any letters from a Fon Master Guardian?" Jade inquired of the two men.

"Ah, that... I'm sorry, but I'm afraid we opened it to confirm the contents, for security reasons." The General told Jade, as he handed him a letter that had been opened.

"That's fine. There shouldn't be anything in there that would be a problem for you to see." Jade informed him, taking the letter and reading it over. "It seems Anise has moved on to the next location." he told the group.

"The 'next location'?" Luke asked Jade.

"Kaitzur," he answered.

"And how are we going to get out with the blockade?" he asked.

"We wait," Jade answered. "The Oracle Knights will not wish to antagonize Malkuth by blockading a city for too lengthy of a time."

"Then how about we go to the inn and rest until then? We cab also make some food since I imagine the Fon Master is starving by now." Luke suggested.

"Thank you, Luke, for mentioning that." the young Fon Master said, smiling at Luke. "Luke is right, I am indeed quite hungry."

"Well then, we'll bid you our leave." Jade told the two men.

"If the Oracle Knights are chasing you, I'll gladly lend a hand. I was elected by the city representatives here. Come by anytime you need help." The older man offered.

"Thank you, Field Marshal." Jade replied.

They walked over to the inn and booked a room for the night. Since they still had some supplies remaining, Jade and Tear cooked a meal for the whole group rather than attracting further attention to themselves by finding a place where they could eat.

It was a simple but filling meal. After they finished eating, they make quick work of the clean up. Ion asked if he could get a nap, but they decided that it would be best to spend the night. It was growing rather late anyhow, so even if the blockade was removed right then and there, they would be best off not leaving for their next location.

"Would it be all right if I went outside for a short time?" Luke asked.

"Avoid the gate area. We don't need the Oracle Knights seeing you." Jade informed him.

"Of course," he agreed.

Luke left the inn and as he was walking towards the merchant's area, he heard a commotion at the gate. While he did promise to stay away from the gate, this may be important, so he found some cover nearby and listened in to what was happening.

"Has anyone entered the city since your arrival?" a voice he did not recognize asked.

"Just two wagons from Engeve." the guard from earlier answered.

"Withdraw from this city then." the first voice said. "You will go on to Kaitzur."

"Yes, sir!" both guards said in unison and then left their post at the gate.

"Sync, are you sure we should withdraw?" a new voice said, this one female.

"If they haven't arrived by now, they likely are already on their way to Kaitzur. We cannot afford to antagonize the Malkuth Military at this time. You know our orders, Legretta. And you, Largo, have barely recovered from your fight with the Necromancer. We cannot afford confrontations at this time."

"But they are the ones who killed mommy!" a younger female voice screeched most vehemently.

"The orders just said we can't kill them. Arietta, I can teach you some wonderful techniques that would gain you much satisfaction." a familiar male voice said.

"Even if our orders said you could harm them, you won't be teaching Arietta how to torture people, Nepenthes!" a female voice said.

That name! He was the one who murdered his father. The second voice sounded like the female God-General who came in and knocked him unconscious. Anger poured into him, his fists clenched, but he knew that he could do nothing at this time. He was outnumbered at least five to one, and two were too much for him before. All he could do was keep calm and keep listening.

"You never let us have any fun Cantabile!" the younger girl exclaimed.

"I don't think it would be any fun to see either of you punished by the Commandant for disobeying orders." the woman answered.

Luke could hear the sound of laughter in response. It was a disturbing laughter that gave him chills. "You know that doesn't bother me one bit." he said once he stopped laughing.

Then a strange sound that he could not identify was heard and he heard a new voice. "Hah hah hah! I so love it when Nepenthes gets in trouble. Serves him right since you let him get away with murder, Cantabile!" the voice exclaimed.

"At least I get something done, unlike you, Dist, who just plays with broken fon machines.

"Both of you, we have no time for petty arguments!" the female called Cantabile shouted to both of them.

"Ooh, I am putting this in my revenge journal!" the one called Dist exclaimed.

"And I am so scared." Cantabile said.

"Everyone, stop arguing and withdraw!" the first male voice said. Luke could then hear the sounds of their departure. Luke didn't even realize until this point that he had been holding his breath until he exhaled all of a sudden. His fists were white from being clenched so hard, especially after Dist's comment. He took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself before he moved away from his hiding place.

Once he calmed himself, he realized that he should go back and inform the others about the blockade being removed and what he heard. So he returned to the inn to inform the others about it. However, he was just as glad that they were not going to leave until the morning.

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And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 


	9. The Long Walk to Kaitzur

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

* * *

Luke re-entered the room at the inn after the conversation he overheard at the gate. Ion and Tear were already fast asleep, however Jade was sitting by the window. 

"The Oracle Knights have left." Luke told the Colonel.

"That's good to hear, but how did you find this out when you were going nowhere near the gate area?" the canny Colonel asked him.

The man was smart; Luke definitely had to give him credit for that. "As I was leaving the inn, I heard a commotion and took advantage of that commotion to listen."

"Well, they didn't see you, You wouldn't be here now if they did see you, so perhaps you can tell me what you heard?"

"Not that much just that their orders were not to harm us is my guess and some names."

"Which names?"

"Sync, Largo, Legretta, Arietta, Cantabile, Nepenthes, and Dist

"My, seven God-Generals? This must be quite important."

"The only one missing was the commander of the 6th Division." a sleepy female voice interrupted.

"Tear, did we wake you?" Luke asked apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. As a soldier I am expected to be able to be ready in a matter of minutes." she assured him.

"Tear, do you know anything about the 6th Division commander?" Jade asked her. "Amazingly I have heard things about every God-General but that one."

"No, it seems the only ones who know anything are the God-Generals themselves and those in the 6th Division." she informed him.

"Interesting..." Jade said thoughtfully. "By the way, Luke, good job remaining calm and collected in that situation."

His face turned almost as red as his hair with his embarrassment. "I knew I was outnumbered by the time his name was mentioned. I thought it best to just listen."

"A wise plan, as only two of them were too much for you earlier." Jade mentioned.

"I know my limits, Jade. I'm not a complete idiot." Luke grumbled.

"I never said you were." Jade denied. "Anyway, both of you should attempt to get what rest you can as we leave at first light."

-----

The night passed uneventfully Everyone was awake by the time the first streaks of dawn shone through the window. Each of them quickly readied themselves for the lengthy trip to Kaitzur. As Jade was ready first, he ventured over to the merchant area to get some supplies to replace what they were running low on. Once he returned, the others were ready to go, a good thing, as they would be lucky to reach Kaitzur before the border was closed off for the night. They settled the bill with the innkeeper and turned in the key before departing.

As they had expected, the trip did indeed take most of the day. It took even longer than normal, as the usual road was closed due to a bridge being out. So instead they had to find a spot to where they could cross the Fubras River by foot, adding a good amount of time to an already long trip.

Despite the length of the trip, it was amazingly uneventful. All that the group met up with were monsters which were really no challenge at all. No Oracle Knights were to be found on the way to Kaitzur. None of them knew what this meant, but for now, it was nice to not be harassed by them.

Night was about to fall when they finally reached Kaitzur. They were tired and in need of a good rest, but they knew the border had rest facilities. As they approached the actual border, they could see a young girl in a pink and purple uniform arguing loudly with the Malkuth soldier standing guard and checking that travelers had passports for crossing.

"I've lost my identification, and my passport, too. Please let me through! Please!" the young girl pleaded with the soldier.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you pass." The soldier told her.

She turned and stormed off. "You better watch your back." She muttered under her breath.

"Anise, that isn't very kind of you. He was only doing his job." Ion admonished her.

"Ion!" she exclaimed as she saw the young Fon Master. "I am glad to see you're safe, I was so worried about you!"

"It's good you're safe too, Anise." Luke told her.

"You were worried about me, Luke?" she asked.

"Of course, with all those monsters and Oracle Knights out there, it had to be quite dangerous."

"Yeah, it was scary…" she said shyly.

"The poor thing must have been terrified. She screamed, 'I'll kill you bastards!' as she fell." Ion told the group.

"Scared, huh? Sounds like you did better than I did." Luke told her.

"Fon Master, please!" Anise exclaimed at Ion, then she turned to Luke. "I'm sure you did fine, Luke, you're here, aren't you?"

"For a civilian, he made an admirable showing of himself." Jade explained. "Now, Anise, do you have the Imperial letter?"

"Of course I do!" she said excitedly. "Aren't you proud of me for keeping it safe?"

"You did well, Anise." Ion praised her.

"By the way, how are we going to get across the check point? Neither Luke nor I have passports, and Anise doesn't seem to have one either."

"That's easily enough solved, I brought enough extras that your whole group should be covered." A familiar male voice said from behind them.

"Van!" Tear exclaimed as she turned to face her brother, knife in hand ready to face him again if need be.

"Calm down, Tear." He said to her. "First, let's get across the border before it closes down for the night. Then we can rest in the facilities on the Kimlascan side and I will explain everything to you."

He handed passports to each member of the group. They barely made it across the border before it closed for the night, but with the passports, they made it through without any issues. After crossing they then obtained a room at the rest facilities on the Kimlascan side of the border, joined by Van for the time being.

"What are you doing here, Master?" Luke asked the Oracle Knight Commandant. "I thought you were being sent to head a search for the Fon Master?"

"Your sudden disappearance changed things. As it turned out, however, searching for your and searching for the Fon Master turned out to be the same thing." he answered.

"Why have we had problems with your subordinates then, Van?" Tear asked her brother.

"Unfortunately, at times they tend to take their own interpretations to my orders. Each of them is a part of the Grand Maestro faction, and not only that, but they are extremists of that faction." Van explained.

"But I thought you were a part of the Grand Maestro faction also? Is that not true then?" Tear exclaimed.

"It is a common mistake. I follow the Fon Master's wishes." Van answered.

Luke gave Tear a look that said to stop this line of questioning until things could be discussed further among them. "Master, how did my mother and Natalia take the news?"

"I assured them that I personally would find you which relieved both of them greatly." he assured Luke.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried about the both of them, as their health was fragile at this time and he did not wish either of them to get worse because of what had happened. Now, should he ask the question that was really burning on his mind? That he was unsure about, as if it was false, Van would be upset. But if it was true, he would then be suspicious of Luke for knowing too much.

He had just decided to keep quiet when Ion suggested "Why don't we get some rest since we likely will leave for Kaitzur Port at first light? It was a long journey and I am tired."

"I'll go on ahead to Kaitzur Port and secure passage for your group." Van informed them. "I will meet you at the entrance tomorrow." Having said that, he left.

The group remained in an uncomfortable silence for a bit until it was broken by Luke, "All of you, thanks for not mentioning Nepenthes."

"You did seem nervous around Van." Ion pointed out. "Is there perhaps something more that we should know about?"

"Honestly, I wasn't sure if I should bring up the matter with him." Luke explained.

"You suspect your father's murder was on his orders?" Tear asked.

"I'm not sure, but it is a distinct possibility." he answered.

"Why would you think Van would give such an order though, Luke?" Ion asked.

"Wait a second, what does the Commandant have to do with your father's murder, Luke?" Anise asked.

"Anise, you weren't there at the time, but when the Tartarus was attacked, one of his subordinates actually outright taunted me about what he did." Luke mentioned to her.

"Anise does have a point. While I don't know much about him, he's known as Nepenthes the Twisted, and for very good reason the way I hear it." Tear mentioned.

"Somehow, that makes some sense, considering…" Luke said thoughtfully.

"Considering..." Tear started to say. "Or should I not even ask?"

"You shouldn't ask." Luke told her.

"Luke, maybe you can explain further why you suspect Van having anything to do with your father's murder?" Jade inquired of the boy.

"He's been trying to convince me to aid him with something. Before my father's murder, he asked one last time and said that he'd ensure the safety of my family. I refused again, since at the time, I couldn't afford to leave for any length of time. His next comment made me wary, as he said that he could not aid me in providing their safety." he explained.

"Are you sure about that, Luke?" Ion asked.

"Very sure. I wouldn't think he had something to do with it otherwise." Luke informed him.

"Do you perhaps have any information that could aid us if needed?" Tear inquired. "I somehow doubt we will be left alone so anything could be of help."

"Well, he was a servant in my parent's manor, but he left a few years back. All the maids loved him, but he was afraid of them. In fact he would run away in fear if a woman came anywhere near him, even my mother." Luke explained.

"Interesting..." Jade mulled. "That could be useful if we meet up with Nepenthes again. We likely should be careful about trusting Van. Also, Luke, stay near Anise or Tear as much as possible."

"I don't want either of them to get hurt because of me." Luke informed Jade.

"Luke, don't worry. As soldiers, it is our job to protect civilians like you. Also, you and Ion are important to this mission, so we need to keep both of you safe." Tear explained.

"Fine. Anyway, shouldn't we get some rest? I imagine Jade is going to want us to leave at the crack of dawn again." Luke agreed. Jade just shrugged his shoulders pretending that he had nothing to do with their departure time the past few days.

-----

The night passed uneventfully and, as per Jade's wishes, they all rose early. Anise turned out to be a cheerful morning type of person who bounced out of bed and woke everyone else in the process. Everyone else was a bit slower about rising, but they quickly got ready and departed for Kaitzur Port.

This was a much shorter journey, as no detours were needed, and it was a well traveled road they would be following. They arrived to Kaitzur Port by the afternoon. Commandant Grants was waiting for them at the port's entrance.

"Luke, Tear, it's good to see you made it safely." Van said in greeting.

"Was there any particular reason why we would not have made it here safely?" Tear asked.

"Not particularly, but one never knows." Van told them.

"Have you booked our group passage to Chesedonia then?" she asked him, to change the subject.

"I have already spoken with the port's commander. The next ship leaves tomorrow morning. I also took the liberty of having a message sent to Baticul to the King informing him of the fact that Luke will be on the ship along with informing him about the emissaries in the group." Van told them.

"Thank you." Luke said, relieved that Van had thought of that already.

"Quarters have also been set aside for your group for tonight at the rest facilities. Just mention your name, Luke, to the guard on duty." Van told them.

"Thanks, Master." Luke told him.

"Let's go to the facilities for now, since there is nothing to do but wait until the ship departs." Tear suggested.

"Then I will leave you now, Fon Master, Luke, Tear." Van told them. "There is something I must do before we depart. I will see all of you on the ship tomorrow.

"Well, that was, interesting." Jade commented once Van had taken his leave, and as they walked towards the rest facilities.

"What do you mean, Colonel?" Anise asked the older man.

"Why is the Commandant of the Oracle Knights taking such an interest in Luke? It can't be because of Ion's presence, he barely acknowledged Ion." Jade explained.

"You're right, Colonel, that is strange. The Oracle Knights usually don't get involved in politics with either of the two nations. Fon Master Ion's presence at now is an exception of course." Tear mentioned.

"So, Luke, care to shed some light on this? Why is he so interested in you?" the Malkuth Colonel inquired.

"I wish I knew." Luke answered.

Jade looked at the young man as if he did not completely believe this. He knew there had to be a reason behind the Commandant's interest in the boy. There was definitely an interest though, or else he would have sent some soldiers to find his missing student.

While Jade continued to think over those things, they reached the rest facility. It wasn't a large place, but it did have enough rooms that each of them could have privacy if they wished it. Anise opted to stay with Ion, but otherwise they took advantage of this chance, as it was not uncommon for a group to have to share a room.

Eventually night came and they all got some much needed rest. All of them besides Luke, that is. For some reason, Luke couldn't sleep at all, which was strange, as he should be tired from all the traveling by foot and waking up before it was even dawn.

He walked out toward the dock area, since he knew that looking out over the water usually calmed him enough that he could sleep. He sat down and looked out over the water and soon heard a voice behind him.

"Couldn't sleep?" the voice asked, startling him.

"Tear! Did you follow me?" he asked her.

"I heard a noise, so I thought I would investigate. I saw you and since the Colonel said either Anise or I should stay close to you, I followed." She explained.

"You didn't have to. I am sure nothing will happen if I am alone a few minutes out here." He told her.

"That's true, but also I wanted to talk to you, and to apologize for what my brother may have put you through."

"Apologize? But why? You have nothing to do with the actions of your brother. And from the looks of things when we first met, you didn't approve of his actions either."

"No, I didn't. I can't explain everything, but I can honestly say he is up to something I don't agree with. I had hoped to put a stop to it, but failed."

"Which was my fault." Luke said abruptly.

"I don't think so. Had I been better prepared, I would have known he would dodge my attack and not come near you. But perhaps it was for the best. I wonder if it was Lorelei's will that we met and got a chance to get to trust each other."

"That is likely as good an explanation as any."

"I just wish you could trust me enough to tell me why you blame yourself for what happened." She said thoughtfully.

Luke thought over that a moment. Could he trust Tear? She had indeed kept her word so far, and she may be Van's sister, but obviously didn't get along with him. "Perhaps you are right. I likely should explain a bit more. But I would need your promise not to mention it to the others yet." He conceded.

"I promise, none of the others will learn of anything we have spoken of."

"Ever since I was young, I had a strange ability, one no one else has, at least none that I know of." He began to explain.

"What sort of ability? I know you are a Seventh Fonist, but while uncommon, there are definitely others who can use the Seventh Fonon." Tear asked. "But you seem different, as most Seventh Fonists are Healers or Scorers."

"Yes, my wife is a Healer, like you. However, while I can use fonic artes, I haven't been able to learn any healing artes. No, my ability is much different. I am actually capable of causing a hyperresonance on my own." He explained further.

"A hyperresonance? Then, when we met…" she asked.

"Something happened. Over the years I've learned to control it so I can use it when needed. But for some reason, it hasn't been as easy to control as of late. It went out of control the moment you attacked Van. When you fell on top of me, something must have happened, and that was how we ended up in Tataroo Valley. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner."

"No wonder you blame yourself. But it was just an accident. Had I not fallen onto you, nothing likely would have happened." She said. "Don't blame yourself for it"

"I don't blame myself, or you. As you said, it may have been Lorelei's will that we met. Even though we'll reach Baticul soon, I doubt it will be the last time we meet. The same goes for the Fon Master, Anise and Jade." Luke said. "Even if Jade is a bit strange."

Tear couldn't help laughing at that. "Yes, he is. And the Fon Master and Anise are an interesting pair also."

"Perhaps we will all see each other before the rest of you have to leave Baticul." Luke said hopefully.

"I would like that." Tear told him. "Anyway, it's getting late. We should get some sleep even though we don't have to be up at dawn, we will have to be up early."

"You go ahead. I want to be alone for a bit." Luke told her.

"All right. But I'll wait by the facility just in case you need me." She conceded before returning.

He sat out there a few more minutes thinking about what he and Tear discussed. What he said was true, he was glad to have met all of them, something that wouldn't have happened had it not been for Tear breaking into the manor. Now he knew others who understood what he was going through and may even be able to help. It definitely made him feel like a large weight was lifted from his shoulders just to know he had even one more person he could depend on.

He stood up then and turned towards the rest facility. It was indeed late and he was starting to feel tired. He took a few steps towards the building when he heard the sound of a bird's wings flapping behind him.

"Miss me, Luke?" that familiar voice of his most hated enemy said from behind him.

"You!" Luke exclaimed, turning towards him.

Before he could turn fully around, or even draw his sword, the man had a grip on his arm preventing Luke from taking any action against him. Before he even had a chance to either escape his grasp or do anything else, he felt something hit him, and everything went black.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 


	10. A Torturous Few Hours

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

* * *

Everything was hazy at first when Luke finally regained consciousness, but his vision quickly cleared. He did not recognize this place at all; he only but he knew that it was definitely not Kaitzur Port. 

The place appeared to be the lowest level of some building, a rather dreary building to be exact. He tried to shift his position to get a better view, but found his movement hindered. It seemed his arms and legs were securely bound.

Since he was unable to move very much, he did his best to get an idea of his surroundings. From the little that he could see, there wasn't anyone else there. He also could see that the place wasn't in the best of shape, giving him the impression it had been abandoned until just now when his captor decided to make use of the place. He also could see some fon machines around the place, which looked rather out of place here. Unfortunately, none of this gave him any clue as to where he might be, much less any idea of how to escape, even if he somehow could free himself.

Then a small girl with pink hair appeared over him and she gave an evil grin when she saw Luke's eyes were open. "Nepenthes! Our toy woke up!" she squealed in delight.

_Toy? What was the girl talking about? _

"Ah, good. I didn't want him to break too soon. It tends to ruin the fun when our toys break." Another voice said as he entered Luke's sight. Luke didn't need to see him though, he recognized his voice right away. Of course, the red head was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much seeing his father's murderer and being at his mercy bothered him. "I know you are capable of talking, so go ahead with the self righteous spiel that you likely want to tell me about how I need to be punished for my crime and so on and so forth. Really, I might find it quite entertaining."

"I am not going to entertain you. Just go ahead and get it over with since I imagine your plan is to slowly torture and then kill me, like you did with my father." Luke stubbornly said while trying to not betray the fact that he honestly did not wish to meet death.

His former servant laughed, that same laugh that gave him the chills every time he heard it. What could have made him change so much? Once he stopped laughing he told Luke, "No, actually, I have no such plans. Arietta and I plan to have some fun while I teach her a few things using you as a test subject. Then perhaps by then your friends will have figured out where we are and they can have you. Until then, you are our toy to play with. You just better hope they care enough, or else we get a very long time to play with you."

"If you really want to play with me, why don't you just release me now." Luke told him. "Then maybe we can settle whatever issue you have with me once and for all."

"I don't have any issue with you, personally, Luke." His blonde captor explained. "My issue is with your family and your position."

"My family and position?"

"Yes, and the rest is none of your business."

"Can we get on with this already?" Arietta impatiently demanded.

"I'm sorry, Arietta. I was enjoying baiting him too much. Baiting your plaything is a big part of torturing him, you see, but since you don't understand what we are speaking of, I doubt it is as much fun for you."

"No, it's not fun, so what's next?" Arietta whined.

He thought for a moment, "Arietta, how good are you with a knife?"

"Are we going to cut him into tiny pieces? I think I can handle that!" she asked excitedly.

"Not tiny pieces, but I am sure you will enjoy what is next." He answered, which caused Arietta to squeal gleefully.

He untied Luke's arms. Before Luke had any chance to act, his wrists were held as tightly as they had been when the rope held them. "Arietta, untie his legs, we will need to have him in a position where we will be able to better do the sort of play I was thinking of." He requested handing the girl a knife with his free hand.

The small girl did as her companion requested. It took little time to free his ankles with the sharp knife she had been given. Luke then was dragged over to a place where he could be more easily tied upright so they could play with him to their fullest. Before retying his wrists in place, his jacket and shirt were removed and tossed aside. His wrists and ankles were then secured again.

"Now, Arietta, what I want you to do is take that knife I handed you, and use it to carve into his skin. Just make sure nothing you do will show when we put his clothes back on, as we don't need Van finding out too soon."

"Anything?" the girl asked.

"Anything, just keep what I said in mind, keep away from his arms, face and neck. And don't go too deep, we don't need him dying on us from blood loss. If you would like, I can demonstrate the proper method."

"No, I can do it!" she insisted.

Her eyes filled with a devilish sort of glee, she took a slice out of Luke's skin. "Good girl" her companion praised her. "Go ahead and continue, I will let you know when you should stop."

He bit his lip and tried his best not to think of the pain that was being caused him as she continued slicing his skin up with that knife. He was at least thankful it was a rather sharp knife, had it been dull, this likely would have hurt a lot more. At least each sharp slice into his skin was over with quickly and it actually didn't hurt nearly as much as he thought it would, of course that didn't mean that it didn't still hurt.

He avoided looking at the girl or her evil companion, as that likely would have undone any efforts to not feel pain. He doubted he would last much longer without giving them the pleasure of knowing that they were indeed hurting him, but as he tasted blood from biting on his lip to prevent his crying out, the girl was stopped from carving him up.

"Good, I think we have enough for this part. A shame he didn't cry out one bit, but I doubt he will last long once we move on to the next part. Are you enjoying yourself so far, Arietta?"

"He's no fun though, he's not hurting one bit, he deserves to die for what he did!"

"Look at him closely though, it's obvious he was trying hard not to give us the satisfaction. That makes it all the more fun, as when he finally starts screaming, you know you have broken him. The harder they are to break, the more fun it is when they do break."

"So he will start screaming soon?"

"His screams will be music to your ears soon. I promise. None have lasted all the way through the next part, and I have done this to many over the years."

He handed her a small bottle. The bottle was closed with an eyedropper so it was obvious that whatever was inside it needed to be applied in very small amounts.

"What's this?" she asked looking at the bottle.

"I know you can keep a secret. One of my men who works for Dist stole some chemicals to aid me in my gaining information from those who are unwilling to tell. This particular one is rather effective. It is an acid and burns the skin even when a small bit just touches it. Imagine how it would feel on an open wound like the ones you just made."

She thought over his words, then slowly an evil looking smirk came over her face, and the gleam in her eyes from earlier returned. "So I pour this in those cuts I made?"

"Yes, but you want to do it very slowly, that is why you have the eyedropper. Too much will seriously burn away his skin, but a few drops will indeed be painful. That and the slower the pain comes, the longer he can suffer, and that is what you want, right?"

She opened up the bottle and applied a drop of the chemical to one of those knife slashes she made on Luke. The moment the chemical touched the open wound, what control he had left over his reactions vanished. The pain was indeed too much, and he screamed due to it.

"Wonderful, Arietta!" Nepenthes praised, laughing at Luke's obvious pain. "Isn't it wonderful? Now continue and we soon will hear the wonderful music of his suffering"

She continued pouring the chemical into his open wounds a drop at a time. She paused the merest second in between, just enough time to give him time to take a breath and try to gather his wits, but it wasn't nearly enough. The burning hurt too much, his screams got louder and louder. His captors seemed much pleased at his reaction, as even Arietta was laughing gleefully at his pain. She continued until he had been completely overcome by the pain and passed out.

"Enough. Now we need to let him recover. If his friends haven't come by then, we can have some more fun." He told the girl.

"That was fun, I hope they take their time!"

"Don't worry, even if they do, we will find some other way to torment him."

"Nepenthes, why does that boy look like him?"

"Arietta, I don't know, but you are right, it is a striking resemblance. We will have to ask Van about it." Nepenthes said as he left the room with the girl.

"Damn that Nepenthes!" Another person entered the room after the other two had left. His silver hair and glasses bounced on his head as he shook it in fury. "I knew he had men among my ranks! And stealing from me! No wonder I get laughed at for not keeping to a budget, the others get their supplies from my department! I am so putting this in my revenge journal!" the man whined as he moved closer to Luke. "Hmm, he is right though, it is a striking resemblance. This does bear some further study, but not when _he's _around!"

The other strange man left the room, Luke knew nothing about his having ever been present, and neither did his two captors.

-----

Tear waited outside the rest facility for Luke's return. She didn't understand why, but she had a bad feeling about leaving him alone.

_Silly girl, he'll be back in a few minutes, you're worrying for nothing_.

She knew she had promised to wait for him and to give him some time to himself, but she couldn't shake this feeling. Something wasn't right at all. She would rather upset him and ease this feeling she had than to have something bad happen to him when she promised to keep him safe. So instead of keeping her promise she walked back to where she left him earlier when they were talking.

She arrived to the spot just in time to see a griffin carrying two individuals departing. One of the individuals had blonde hair, and the other was very obviously an unconscious Luke. There was nothing she could do to help him; they were already out of her reach. All she could do was note in what direction they were headed.

With that knowledge in mind, she ran back to the rest facility as fast as she could. She knew the best course of action at this point would be to wake up the Colonel, as he would know what would be the best plan at this point in time. Regardless, they would probably miss their ship out of the port in the morning.

She knocked loudly on his door once she found his room. He answered after a short time, and was impeccably dressed at that. He was definitely a good soldier, seeing as he was always prepared. He saw that Tear looked distressed about something "Tear, what happened?"

"Luke's been kidnapped!"

He motioned that she should come inside. "We don't need to be discussing this where others can hear." She came in his room and sat down as he directed her to. "Now Tear, start from the beginning with what happened."

"I guess he couldn't sleep, because I heard him go outside. Since you wanted me or Anise to remain close, I followed him. We spoke for a bit and then he requested that I allow him to have a few minutes to himself."

"And you didn't keep him in sight at least?"

"I did wait outside the facility when a good amount of time passed and he had yet to return, I decided to check and see what happened to delay him I arrived just as he was being taken away."

"Did you see anything else? Perhaps who did it, or a direction they went in?"

"His captor appeared to be a God-General, but I could not tell which one from the distance, other than he was masked. They flew away on a griffin northward."

Jade looked thoughtful, "Hmm, where could he have been taken?"

"Should we ask the commander of this post for aid?"

"Do you honestly think we would receive aid? Luke may be Kimlascan, but we are not. They would aid Ion, but it is best to not involve Ion in this. We also need to work fast."

"So what's the plan then?"

"If I recall correctly, there is a manor that was abandoned many years ago to the north of this area. Interestingly enough, it belongs to Luke's family."

"You think that is where he has been taken? Why there?"

"It has been abandoned almost as long as Luke has been alive. It would make a good base for undesirables, also if it is who I think it is, the location would be perfect."

"Should I wake Anise and Ion then?"

"Time is of the essence. Ion will be safe here with Anise."

"It could be a trap for us to leave the Fon Master without protection."

"It also could be a trap for us to bring Ion to them. At least if we leave him here, there is less risk."

"If that's your plan then we'd better leave before the Fon Master and Anise wake up."

-----

_Guy, let me show you what Master Van taught me today! _

_Eager to show off what you learned, Luke? _

_Yeah! I bet I can beat you this time! _

_Hah, hah! Well, let's see how much you have learned from Van , Luke. _

-----

_Why do you have to leave, Guy? _

_Luke, I can't explain to you, so don't ask, please. _

_Was it something I did? _

_No, never! You taught me something important. _

_What do you mean? _

_I'll tell you someday, when we meet again, if you don't hate me, that is. _

_I could never hate you! _

_We'll see. Goodbye, Luke. _

-----

The memories of the past disappeared as he returned to the dreariness of his present circumstances. He felt stiff from the numerous cuts on his skin and each and every one of those cuts burned from the chemicals poured into them. Even the slightest of movements was painful.

"He's awake now!" the younger girl squealed in delight at seeing her victim's eyes open and appear to be aware of his surroundings.

"Good, I was afraid we overdid it." his other captor said looking relieved.

"Would it matter so much?" Luke asked his former servant.

"Perhaps it would, even if we didn't have orders saying you were not to be harmed."

"Do you care or not? You hurt me, then show remorse at my pain. Make up your mind already."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Then enlighten me."

"Perhaps I will, but not today as it seems our time together grows short, we have guests." The moment he said that, two people entered the room they all were in. Luke looked over to the entrance of the room as best as he could from his position and he brightened for the first time since he arrived when he saw Jade and Tear.

They both saw Luke. "I will get Luke, you distract the God-Generals" Jade mouthed to Tear. Tear lunged at Nepenthes while Jade undid the bonds on Luke and retrieved his clothing.

Luke put on his shirt and jacket with difficulty, as it wasn't easy with how much pain he was in. He had just finished putting his jacket on when he and Jade heard a woman's scream. They both turned towards the scream they heard.

They saw Tear with a knife pointed to her throat by Nepenthes. "Luke, you naughty boy. You told about my phobia. Well, guess what, things change over that many years." he told Luke and Jade. To Tear he said "If I wasn't already spoken for, I would ask if I could date you, I didn't know Van's sister was so beautiful."

Tear paled at his words. Then suddenly they heard another voice.

"Nepenthes, Arietta, let them go now!" a voice bellowed.

"Van! What are you doing here?" Tear asked.

"Arietta, Nepenthes, did you forget your orders?"

"No, we didn't, Commandant!" Arietta exclaimed.

"Somehow I doubt that. Both of you, will be returning to Daath with me for punishment." he told them.

"Van! Did you know Nepenthes was the one who murdered Luke's father?" Tear exclaimed.

"Is this true, Luke?"

"Yes, he confessed to it earlier." Luke told Van.

"Then Luke, accept my apologies for the fact that it was one of my men who did that. As a symbol of my goodwill, I give him to you to take back to Kimlasca for punishment. If you need any assistance, you will have it." Van told him. "Nepenthes, release my sister at once. This time you will follow orders and give yourself up. Tear, restrain him and we will take him with us to Kaitzur Port."

Tear did as her brother asked. She was surprised at his easy compliance at giving up one of his God-Generals for punishment to another nation. She would have to speak with Luke later on that matter, but for now, Luke seemed pleased that he finally accomplished capturing his father's murderer. Van dealt with restraining Arietta for the return trip to Daath.

Once their prisoners were ready, they departed from the place. Faint streaks of dawn were starting to be seen in the sky. It looked like after all they would make their ship that day, if they hurried, so they departed immediately.

What they did not know was that another of the God-Generals had been hiding just outside of their location and saw the group depart with their two prisoners. As she saw one of the prisoners, she could not stop the tears from falling down her cheek.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	11. Many Things Afoot and Afloat

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

And I want to give a big thanks to all those who have taken the time to review, especially darkangel and Taisaya-Ryu who kindly review each chapter. I also want to thank everyone who has been keeping up and have contributed to 2000 hits to this story! Thanks so much everyone!

* * *

Luke, Tear, Jade, Van and their prisoners slowly made their way to Kaitzur Port. Their progress was even further slowed by Luke who was still very much weakened by his earlier treatment and unable to keep pace with the rest of them. 

Luke tried his best to keep going. He didn't want to be the cause of all of them being stranded in this area until another ship arrived. It didn't take Tear long to catch onto the fact that he was trying to put on a good show, and he was indeed worse off than they had thought. Unfortunately, Van's untimely arrival made Luke very hesitant to be talkative.

"Colonel, Van, why don't you both go ahead with the prisoners? I will remain behind with Luke. He needs to rest." Tear requested of the other two.

"That is likely for the best. He does look rather pale." Jade pointed out.

"Colonel, he doesn't need jabs right now. I trust you can take care of arrangements for our group? Luke and I will join you as soon as we can." she told him. He just shrugged in response, but he and Van left with the prisoners.

"Luke, let's go find a place where we both can get some rest. While you rest, I will tend to any injuries you may have." He didn't answer, so she took his silence as an affirmative response and walked towards a place off the road. She looked back and confirmed that he was actually following her.

She walked slowly so that he could keep up and looked back often to make sure he was okay. She was indeed quite worried, he looked rather pale. To her disappointment, he remained silent. She was hoping that Van's departure would make him less hesitant to talk.

She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Luke had slowed down even more and had grown even paler. All of a sudden she heard a noise behind her; she looked back and saw that Luke had collapsed.

Tear quickly went to him, "Luke! Luke! Wake up!" He didn't show any indication that he even heard her. She became very worried and started by making sure that he was indeed still breathing. She was relieved to find that, other than him being unconscious, he was fine.

At least they had gotten far enough off the path that Tear could take the time to tend to the injuries that she knew he had. She worked to make him more comfortable and so she could tend to him. She first carefully removed his jacket. Then she rolled it up and placed it under his head as a pillow to make him more comfortable as his body got the rest that it obviously so desperately needed. Then she worked on removing his shirt.

Upon seeing him without his shirt, she gasped at the sight. His chest was completely covered in a myriad of cuts, many of which were still bleeding. No wonder he was so pale and weak, he likely lost a lot of blood while these were being made. For the first time she wondered what happened between the two men to make them hate each other so much.

She quickly got to work tending his injuries as best as she could considering her limited materials. Since she had no idea what was done to him, she was hesitant to do much more than stop the bleeding and bandage him. She knew that if she healed them and anything strange was done to him, it could actually hurt him more than help him. At least what little she could do would hopefully help him regain his strength quickly.

He didn't stir at all as she tended to him. This in itself worried her, but there was little she could do. She knew that if she and Luke were gone too long, the Colonel would indeed come to look for the both of them. That helped ease her mind, and even that small amount of ease to her mind helped with Luke unconscious and so seriously hurt.

Once she finished doing what little she could for him, she sat back. Now all she could do was keep an eye on him and wait for him to awaken. Then perhaps he might be persuaded into talking more about what happened so she could do something for him. This wasn't going to be easy. She was feeling the effects from her sleepless night, and knew she could not fall asleep.

She had no idea how much time passed before he finally began to stir, but with no one else around to talk to, and not being able to leave, it definitely felt like an eternity before he finally showed signs of waking.

"Luke, how are you feeling?" she asked of him once he looked somewhat alert.

He looked around, "Where's Jade and Master Van?"

This confused Tear, he was still awake when they had left. "They went on ahead, don't you recall that? Anyway, I stayed behind to keep you company, a good thing, as you needed some rest."

"Sorry, but thanks for looking after me, Tear." he told her.

"How are you feeling now?" she asked him again patiently.

"Honestly, like hell."

"Are you willing to talk about what happened?" she asked him hesitantly. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I need to know so I can tend to you better."

If his coloring wasn't already pale from before, he would have gotten even paler at the question, if only from the expression on his face. He remained silent. "Luke, I know it's something you don't want to remember. I wouldn't ask if I didn't need to know to tend your wounds. Did they do anything more to you that I cannot see?"

He nodded in response. It was something at least, so she decided to keep any questions she had to ask to be ones that he could answer with a yes or no until he was willing to speak about it. "Did they put anything in your wounds perhaps?" he nodded again.

No wonder he didn't want to talk about it. She had heard of techniques to get people to talk that involved making wounds and then making those wounds burn painfully with chemicals or even things meant to cleanse the wounds. That was likely what was done to him, which was no wonder that he was hurting so badly. "Luke, do you think you would be okay for a few minutes while I fetch some water so I can clean your wounds?" he nodded again in response. "Okay, I will be back shortly. Just stay where you are."

She really hated leaving him, but she had to. She really felt for him, as whatever happened in those few hours before he had been found must have been truly horrible, even more so because of who did it, than what had been done. She had a feeling that if it had been any other God-Generals, he would be doing a lot better. She finished her errand quickly so she could return to him, as the last thing she wanted to do was leave him alone too long in his current mental state.

She returned as quickly as she could to the place she had left him. She was rather surprised to see him actually sitting upright, but he still looked so very pale and that was her main concern for now. "Luke, you look a bit better. I got the water. Could you lie back down for me?" she asked him. He said nothing, but did ask she asked. His silence also worried her. She knew from earlier that the experience hadn't been the cause, it was her line of questions. He just didn't want to talk at all about what happened. She tried not to think about that, and instead started to work on tending his numerous wounds.

"Luke, I really wish you would talk to me. I want to help you and talking about what happened can only ease your mind." she gently told him.

"No, you're wrong. I just want to forget all about it." he told her.

"Good, so you can talk, I was getting concerned about how quiet you were being." she said, relieved. "It can't be doing you any good to keep that inside, but I will respect your opinion. If you want to talk, I am here to listen."

"Thanks Tear, I really do appreciate it, but for now I'd prefer not to think about it."

"Fine." she sighed. "I will leave you alone about it."

"And you don't need to fuss over me. I will be fine."

"Sometimes it is nice to be fussed over. It shows someone cares enough about you to fuss over you, especially when you are hurt so badly. Wouldn't your wife or mother do the same?"

He groaned over the thought, but had to nod in agreement. "Yeah, they would."

"And since neither are here now, let me fill in as someone who cares and feels bad that you got hurt."

That got his attention. Somehow, it didn't surprise him that she blamed herself and wanted to make up for what happened by easing his pain. Easing his pain was all she could do, so why not let her help? He smiled despite himself at her roundabout way of showing friendship and feeling bad over what happened.

"That's better!" she smiled back at him. "Now, relax and I will be done with this shortly." She continued to tend to him and was able to get the worst of his wounds healed before she was no longer able to heal wounds. Those she could not heal, she cleaned and bandaged.

"There, all done." she said, admiring her handiwork. "Is that okay? I didn't make the bandages too tight?"

"It's fine." he answered. "Don't blame yourself for what happened, okay?"

"But..." she started to say.

"But, nothing." he interrupted her. "You just did as I asked. If anyone is to blame, it's me. So stop feeling guilty."

She was taken aback by his words, but nodded in agreement. "I can ask how you are feeling until you have recovered, right?"

"Just don't overdo it, or I might mistake you for my mother." he told her, in an attempt to make her smile, which she did.

"Do you feel up to heading back to the port?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think I should be fine after your careful ministrations."

"Then, let's go." she suggested. "And this time, if you need to rest, say something and we'll stop."

-----

Jade, Commandant Grants and their two prisoners reached Kaitzur Port. Fon Master Ion and his bubbly guardian, Anise, saw the group enter. Anise came running over to greet Jade. "Colonel! We were worried when we woke up and couldn't find you guys!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Luke was missing. He has been found and he and Tear should arrive soon."

"Commandant Grants, good to see you made it back in time." Ion greeted the other man as he walked up.

"Good morning, Fon Master." he told the boy. "Yes, I finished my duties in the area in time. If you will excuse me, I must speak with the commander about these two." he explained motioning to the two God- Generals.

"That is fine." He replied. "But what about Luke and Tear?"

"They should be back soon." He answered. "I will see to the arrangements for passage to Kimlasca as Nepenthes is bound for Kimlasca rather than Daath, Arietta will be returning to Daath with me for punishment, however."

"I am sure that is a relief to Luke. You may proceed." He told Van who departed with the two God-Generals without a further word, leaving Anise, Jade and Ion.

-----

A blue haired woman was waiting on a rooftop for the Commandant to finish with what he was doing and to find him alone. Once she saw him alone, she jumped down to face him, "Why are you letting this happen?" she accused him.

"Calm down, Cantabile." he assured the upset woman who appeared on the verge of tears. "Getting upset won't fix this."

"But why?"

"He revealed himself to the boy. The boy now wants justice."

"And that will be a sentence of death! You can't let him die!"

"Cantabile, calm yourself. I know you are upset, or else I would be forced to punish you for questioning me. There is nothing I can do. However, I will not stop you from taking action."

"What?"

"Just what I said. You have a good head so long as you remain calm and your feelings don't rule you. Use that and come up with a plan to get him out. I cannot directly help you, so don't get caught."

"I won't." she said. "Thank you, Commandant."

"Remember what I said and I will not be displeased." he told her before leaving her presence.

She climbed back onto the rooftop so she could think for a time without being found or interrupted. After some time of thought, a plan came to her, a good one almost guaranteed to work. She just needed the cooperation of one other. She doubted that would be hard to obtain. She was about to leave when she heard a sound behind her.

"Go away!" she yelled to whomever it was.

She could then hear an insane laughter behind her. It had to be Dist, he was the only one with such a stupid sounding laugh. "You're actually upset?"

"He is one of us. Any changes at this point in time will drastically delay the plan, or do you not care enough?"

"One might think it is more than just that for you."

"One better stop caring if he knows what is good for him." She told him as she turned quickly and grabbed him by the neck before he could fly away.

"Let me go!" he wailed, her grip only grew tighter. "Please!"

"When I have your word, as dishonorable as it may be, that you will not hinder me."

"I promise! Anything, just don't hurt meee!" he squealed.

"You are so pathetic, Dist." She told him as she tossed him down. "But I will hold you to your word. Break it and I will see you punished."

She walked off, leaving Dist on the roof clutching his throat where she gripped it, knowing full well it was likely going to leave a mark.

-----

The slow pace at which Luke and Tear were forced to travel caused them to arrive in the middle of the afternoon which meant they had missed their ship out of Kaitzur Port. "Should we find the others or speak with the commander first?" Luke asked.

"We should probably find the others. The Colonel or Van likely have already taken care of our arrangements as they knew we wouldn't make it back in time."

"Luke! Tear! You guys are okay!" a cheerful voice exclaimed. "Ion and I were worried when we woke up and couldn't find you two anywhere."

"Sorry for worrying you two, but we are fine."

"It was the Colonel's fault anyhow, he should have known better than to leave without a word to Ion."

"So you've spoken to the Colonel then?"

"Yeah, he explained what happened. Commandant Grants has already left for Daath. Our ship leaves in a few hours. God-General Nepenthes has already been turned over to the Kimlascan military, so all we have to do is wait."

"Thanks, Anise." Luke told the girl. "You look excited, what happened?"

"It's just that I've never been to Baticul before, so I am so glad Ion chose to bring me along!"

"I will be sure to show both of you all the sights before you leave. It is the least I can do for all the help you have given me."

"That would be awesome! I bet you know all the best places to go since you live there and are royalty and all." she said, her face turning a slight shade of pink.

He laughed a bit. "A few, but I admit, I am usually kept far too busy to enjoy them."

"I think Anise here thought royalty just sit around in pretty clothes and go to parties and such." Tear explained. "But in reality, I would imagine you are as busy as the Fon Master is."

"I can't speak for the Fon Master, but Uncle sure keeps me busy. If he doesn't, then Natalia does."

"She's your wife, right?"

"Yeah, and she's good at keeping me busy. That and she's expecting a child, so you can imagine how that is."

"Ooooh, how neat!" Anise exclaimed. "Luke, a father! That's really cool."

Luke's face turned about as red as his hair, "Um, thanks, I guess."

"Anise, you're embarrassing him." A voice said from behind them.

"Ion!" Anise exclaimed.

"I just wanted to see if Luke and Tear had returned. I am happy to see both of you are safe." Ion told them.

"I'm sorry to worry you, Fon Master." Luke sheepishly said.

"Luke, don't be. It's just normal concern. You also don't need to be so formal, Ion will do fine for addressing me unless in a formal setting. Anyway, I am glad all of you returned, Anise and I were concerned when we couldn't find you this morning."

"I am sorry about that, Fon Master." Tear apologized. "That was my fault for blaming myself and being in a hurry to find Luke."

"I can hardly be upset with you when you are just showing that you care for a friend, Tear." Ion assured her. "Everything worked out, and no one got hurt, that is all that matters."

-----

After a long trip, and a much unwanted detour, they were on the ship headed to Baticul by way of Chesedonia. As long as the weather held, they should arrive in Baticul in the morning. For now, everything was calm, however.

Tear, Luke and Jade took advantage of the break that traveling by ship gave them to catch up on the rest they missed the night before. This left, Anise, Ion and Mieu to their own devices, as none were in the least bit tired.

Anise attempted to entertain herself by playing with Mieu so that his master could get some much needed sleep in peace and quiet. She kept piling things up to see how high Mieu could jump and was finding it rather fun to watch Mieu try to get up to the top of the piles.

Luke woke up first. While he felt rather stiff from his wounds that were slowly healing thanks to Tear's care of him, he was able to move, albeit not very comfortably. He did feel much improved from earlier and the sleep helped clear his mind of the horrors he felt. He did, however feel rather hungry and remembered it had been some time since he last ate, so he decided to leave his cabin and see if he could find something to eat. Instead he ended up finding Anise and Mieu.

"Master!" Mieu cheerfully exclaimed upon seeing Luke. "Did you sleep well?"

"As well as could be hoped." He answered the cheagle. "I see Anise has kept you entertained."

"We have had lots of fun! But I missed being with Master."

"Sorry, Mieu." He apologized. "I was very tired."

"You're okay, right, Luke?" Anise asked him. "No one really said much about what happened to you."

"Tear and Jade really didn't know exactly what happened, that's why." He explained to the girl. "I don't wish to go into details myself, but I will recover just fine."

"I'm glad." She said. "Neither me nor Ion want to see you hurt."

"I am hungry though. Do you know where I can find something to eat? I bet you already have explored this place top to bottom."

"Sure do! The cook promised to save some for you, Tear and the Colonel, since I asked him to."

"Then I am indeed in your debt. How about you show me where he's keeping the food. I would also be glad for some company while I eat, if you and Mieu don't mind joining me."

"Sure, that would be great!" she said excitedly.

Anise led Luke and Mieu to the galley and took some of the food that was saved for them. Since it was a nice night, they opted to enjoy the air on deck while Luke ate.

"So, Anise, what made you join the Oracle Knights at such a young age?" Luke inquired of the young girl.

"Many join as soon as they are old enough to help support their families."

"Was that your reason then?"

"Yeah. Papa and Mama also work for the Order."

"That's really good of you. Do you enjoy being a soldier?"

"I do, actually. Ion is very kind and being his guardian means I get to see neat places and meet interesting people. Had I not been chosen as his guardian, I wouldn't have met any of you. Instead I got to meet important people like the Colonel and you."

"I envy you for your proximity to one such as the Fon Master. That must be very interesting. Had I not been born a noble, I may have enjoyed being a soldier."

"Really? But Ion is really just an ordinary person to me."

"You know him well since you are in his company a lot. To me he's not at all ordinary."

"Maybe that's true. You seem interesting too, but the more I get to know you, the more you seem like Ion. You both are kind-hearted people with a lot of responsibility."

"Anise, I hope you aren't bothering Luke." A male voice said from behind them.

"Colonel! You are so mean sneaking up on us!" Anise shrieked.

"She's not bothering me. I asked for her company and it's nice to talk to someone who treats me like a normal person and is closer to my age." Luke told Jade.

"Which is why I am glad I wasn't blessed by being born a noble." Jade mentioned.

"I don't mind it. I also like that I am able to help people."

"Of course. Helping people makes one feel good, so it makes sense that you would like that part."

"You're no fun, Colonel." Anise teased him.

"Old men usually aren't Anise." He explained.

"Did your old bones get enough rest?" Luke remarked.

"Not really, but I guess I will have to make do." He said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Or make the rest of us do everything, which is rather cruel of you." Luke mentioned.

"I am sure Anise would be glad to be of assistance." Jade pointed out.

"Boooo!" Anise said in response, which caused Luke to laugh.

"Quiet you two, we're not alone." Jade hushed them as he looked around for the cause of his being ill at ease. He then noticed that Luke appeared rather strange. He was appearing to almost glow. He also looked extremely pale all of a sudden.

"Luke, are you okay?" Anise asked him. She noticed the same about Luke and was very concerned about him.

"Damn! Someone is here and doing something to him!" Jade remarked. He could then hear a laughter that he would never forget, "Reveal yourself, Dist the Runny!"

A gaudily dressed man with white hair and glasses who was sitting on a flying plush chair appeared from above them. "It's Rose! R-O-S-E, Rose!" he whined.

"It's good to see your spelling skills aren't lacking." Jade commented.

"Oooh, damn you, Jade!"

Jade noted a rather interesting looking bruise on Dist's neck, he had to wonder how that was caused, likely from upsetting someone with a rather firm grip. "So, who's been bullying you lately? Or did you just run into a pole?"

"I did not run into a pole! Not like it's any of your business what happened!" he whined some more.

"Give the bully my regards then," Jade told him. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"Nothing!" he denied.

"Liar!" Anise exclaimed. She noted how much weaker Luke appeared to be ever since Dist had appeared. "He didn't get like this by himself!"

"Stop whatever you are doing to him and leave now, Dist!" Jade yelled to him.

"I already got what I needed anyhow!" Dist yelled back to Jade.

"What was that?"

"Nothing you need to know about. Also, I didn't make him do that! I did nothing to him!" Dist exclaimed before flying away right as Luke fell unconscious.

"Colonel! What happened to Luke? He's unconscious!" she exclaimed worriedly.

"I'll need to examine him closer to find that answer. Could you wake Tear while I do so? We may have need of her healing skills." Jade requested of the girl.

"Yes, sir! I'll be right back with her." She told him as she ran off to do as requested.

Jade examined the young man's prone form closer once Anise had left. He appeared to be breathing normally and other than the fact that he wasn't waking, he seemed perfectly fine. The most curious part of all of this was the glow that had been coming from him earlier. What could that have been?

"Colonel, what happened? Is Luke all right?" a female voice inquired with concern from behind Jade, pulling him away from his thoughts.

"Other than the fact that he hasn't yet awakened, he appears to be fine. We should be able to move him back to his cabin." He told her.

"Do you need help moving him?" Tear asked.

"It would indeed be helpful." Jade answered.

Tear saved her questions for now, and assisted the Colonel with taking Luke back to his cabin. "What even caused this to happen? He seemed fine earlier."

"We had a visit from one of the God-Generals." Jade explained to her.

"What?!" she exclaimed. "Was it…?"

"No, Dist the Reaper appeared to only have an interest in Luke. There would have been much more commotion had an attempt been made at a rescue."

"That is strange. Why would they come here and not make any attempt to free their comrade?"

"My question exactly. Though Dist is known to work more towards his own goals than anyone else's." he agreed. "Now, Tear, what do you know about Luke?"

She suddenly looked uncomfortable with this line of questioning. She knew already that the Colonel had a tendency to get to the answers quickly, and she hated to break a confidence, but knew if it was necessary, she would. "W-what do you mean by that, Colonel?"

"He reacted strangely to whatever Dist did to him. When we first met, you said something about being brought here by a hyperresonance."

"Yes." She answered. "But what does that have to do with anything that happened?"

"Luke's body was surrounded by something that appeared to be a hyperresonance. It requires two Seventh Fonists to create one, but I know no one else present, besides Luke is a Seventh Fonist. No Seventh Fonist can cause a hyperresonance on his own."

"Luke can." She said barely above a whisper.

"What was that?"

"He asked me not to mention it, but he did admit that he has the ability to cause a hyperresonance with no other Seventh Fonist present." She admitted. "He explained that he suspected that my falling onto him caused his hyperresonance to become unstable and that transported us to Tataroo Valley."

"When that happened, was he also unconscious for a time afterwards?"

"Yes, he was. I don't know how long, as it took me some time to awaken after it happened also, but he awoke after I did."

"Then we likely have no worries. Chances are, this ability of his is draining on the body, and he was already in a weakened state before Dist came."

"I'll keep an eye on him until he awakens then."

"Try to convince him to stay in this cabin until we reach Baticul in case of any more visitors gracing us with their presence."

"I will do what I can. At least now I will get a chance to heal the remaining wounds he had."

"That will most likely be helpful to him. That and we don't need to be upsetting King Ingobert by returning his nephew in this condition."

Jade left her to her patient. She got to work on Luke's remaining wounds as Jade was right. She had likely already upset the King enough by spiriting his nephew away to Malkuth, it wouldn't help the matter if he was returned in his current state. So she busied herself with her patient, which would also help pass the time, as her wait for him to awaken would likely be a long one.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	12. Home at Last

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

darkangel - You know that was your fault though, you and your somehow causing me to come up with evil ideas and when I think it won't work, you convince me that it will

Taisaya-Ryu - It's quite possible that Cantabile and Nepenthes like each other, he did say he was "already spoken for" in chapter 10, right? But as far as what Dist did, can't say yet other than he was being somewhat truthful in his words.

* * *

Luke was walking in a grassy field when he found a mysterious wall blocking his way. It was a very high, solid and black wall. No matter what direction he looked in, he couldn't see any way around it. When he looked closer, he could see that the surface was polished to such a shine that he could see his reflection with ease. 

He looked at his reflection, amazed at how clear it was. The colors of his reflection were so vivid that it was like looking into a mirror, rather than the dullness of color usually seen when looking at a polished surface.

He looked around him trying to find some way past this strange mirrored wall, but to no avail. Perhaps if he were to walk along it he might find some way to get past it.

"Where are you going?" he heard his own voice say. No, it wasn't his voice, but one much like it, with only the slightest of a difference in inflection.

He started to turn towards the voice, "Who's there?"

He then saw the speaker and was so startled, he almost fell backwards. It appeared as if his reflection from the wall had stepped out to meet him, the young man standing before him looked that much like him. What really baffled Luke, was the fact that just as he looked the same, he also looked different. He carried himself differently, along with wearing darker and less elegant clothing. Was the reflection perhaps himself from the future, or an idealized version of himself?

"I am you." His reflection answered. "Why have you called for me?"

"Me? I don't recall calling for anyone. I don't even know who you are!" he shouted to the boy. "How do I leave this place?"

"The way you came is the way back. You cannot go past the wall. You can only go through it."

"How do I go through it?" he asked.

"If you are called to go through it, the way will open as it did for me."

"Called to go through?"

"You will understand when you hear it. I must be returning. I am sure we will meet again. Fare well."

"Um, bye."

He didn't realize until after the strange boy had left that he didn't even ask his name.

-----

Dawn was approaching and they were nearly within sight of Baticul. Unfortunately, Luke still had yet to regain consciousness since Dist's arrival earlier that evening. Tear was beginning to grow very concerned for him. She was considering whether she should leave for just long enough to find someone who could go get the Colonel, when she noticed Luke's eyes move. Though it was only by the slightest amount, it looked as if he might be waking.

"Luke?" she said hopefully. "Are you awake?"

His eyes opened fully upon hearing her speak. He immediately noticed Tear who appeared very concerned. "Tear, what happened?"

"According to the Colonel, one of the God-Generals showed up and did something that caused you to lose consciousness. I'm sorry for betraying your confidence, but I had to inform him of your ability."

"What did that have to do with what happened to me?"

"He said that your appearance during that time could only have been caused by a hyperresonance. Since it concerned your health, I had to tell him. I'm sorry, but I felt it was necessary."

"I understand, and it actually explains a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Just what happened to me, is all." he dodged. He really didn't want to talk about his strange dream quite yet, as it made no sense even to him. What good would it do to tell them when he couldn't even explain who that boy was?

"We should be arriving in Baticul soon. I am sure you'll be relieved to finally reach your home after all that has happened to you. I just wish I could have protected you better."

"I will be relieved. But don't concern yourself. I'm here now, am I not? You did just fine when you didn't even have to remain with me. I admit though, it will be nice to return to my ordinary boring life. I've definitely had enough of adventures for a long time."

She laughed a bit. "I'm sure your life is far from boring, but we do tend to hate change."

"I do hope all of you can keep in touch though, when any of us find time, of course."

"I can't speak for the others, but I would be happy to write you when I can."

"Thanks, Tear."

"And you'll definitely have to write when the baby is born."

He smiled at the thought. "I'll be sure to tell you when he's born."

"He? How do you know it's a boy?"

"I don't, but I am hopeful even though a daughter would be just as welcome."

"And just as cute." Tear said to herself.

"What was that?"

"Um, nothing. I just said I understand your wanting a boy if it's your first." If he doubted her words, he was kind enough not to let on.

The door opened suddenly, "Tear, has Luke woken up yet?"

"Yes, I have, Anise." he answered for Tear. "But thank you for your concern."

"Luke! All of us were so worried. I'm glad you're fine though."

"So am I. I hope this never happens again. I really hate worrying people that I care for."

"Anyway, the Colonel said both of you should come on deck if Luke was awake. We are about to arrive in Baticul Port."

"Great. We should be up shortly. Tear, you can go on up. I will join you momentarily."

"Okay." she answered as she left with Anise. "But if you aren't up there in five minutes, I will be checking up on you."

-----

After all this time and hassle to get here, the group finally arrived in Baticul's port. A small detachment of Kimlascan soldiers were on hand to meet them. Their commander, a blonde female dressed in red, stepped out to meet the group.

"Your Highness, it is good that you made it here safely. I trust that you are well?" the woman asked.

"General Cecille! It's good to see you again."

"I was informed by Commandant Grants that you were escorting some guests, is this correct?"

"Yes. Let me introduce the emissaries. This is Fon Master Ion and his guardian Anise, along with Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants of the Oracle Knights. I also would like to introduce Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth Military who is here on the behalf of Emperor Peony the Ninth."

"You are THE Jade Curtiss?!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. I am Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division Malkuth Imperial Forces You taught me a painful lesson in our battle in northern Chesedonia, General Cecille." Jade said to her pleasantly.

"You must be joking. My forces were virtually wiped out!" she exclaimed.

"General, the emissaries wish to meet with His Majesty. We also have in custody the murderer of my father."

"I do recall that being mentioned. My forces will escort him to the dungeon to await his trial and sentencing. I am to escort your Highness if you wish my escort."

"I would feel more at ease with your capable leadership being on hand to ensure the prisoner makes it to the castle. I can escort the emissaries on my own."

"As you wish, your Highness." she said. "Then if I may attend to the arrangements for the transfer of the prisoner to the dungeon?"

"Of course, I thank you for your assistance and leave it to your capable hands."

General Cecille boarded the ship with her soldiers to take the prisoner from the brig of the ship to the castle. With that matter taken care of, Luke felt more at ease and could take the emissaries to the castle to meet his uncle as he had promised.

-----

Luke took advantage of the trip to the castle to show the others around the city some. As they progressed closer to the castle, it became very evident that he was indeed well loved by his people and his disappearance had very much upset many. The relief shown by those who spoke with him was indeed immense. All who spoke to him expressed that they were glad to see him home safely and thanked the emissaries for their assistance in bringing him home.

Anise found herself very enthralled by the sights. More than once, either Ion or the Colonel had to gently prod her to keep moving along.

They made their way to the highest level where the castle stood after enjoying the sights. When they reached the top of the stairs to enter the castle, Luke found himself greeted enthusiastically by the guards on duty.

"Master Luke!" one of the guards greeted him. "You're home at last! The King and Princess will be so pleased, as will Madam Fabre."

"How are they?"

"His Majesty is well. The Princess and her child are doing better. She has been granted permission to move about if attended by another. His Majesty allows her to sit with him in the audience chamber.

"That's wonderful news! And my mother?"

"She has moved to the castle at the request of the Princess. She attends the Princess often, but is also easily tired."

"Still, very good news. I was so very concerned for the both of them." he said, relieved. "Anyway, is Uncle receiving today? I bring some visitors who wish an audience with him."

"He is. His Majesty and the Princess are in the audience chamber."

"Thanks, we will go on in then."

The group walked inside towards the audience chamber. "Wow! You live here, Luke? This is larger than the cathedral in Daath!"

"Since my marriage, yes."

"You're lucky, Luke. Not to live here, necessarily, but to have such obvious love from your people." Ion told him. "Don't mind Anise, she always has dreamed to marry someone rich and is likely disappointed to know that the richest man she has met so far is not available to her."

"Am not!" Anise declared as her face turned a shade of pink that belied her embarrassment.

"A shame you are an only child then, Luke. She could try to woo a younger brother at least. "Jade remarked.

"Booo! You're a meanie, Colonel!"

They reached the giant doors of the Audience Chamber and were about to enter when the guards halted the group. "Master Luke! His Majesty is having an audience with Grand Maestro Mohs right now. I will have to ask you to wait, but I am sure his Majesty will be happy to see you."

"All right, we will wait." he answered. "Is it true my wife is in with him also?"

The guard smiled. "Yes, she is. She has been doing so much better and his Majesty thought it best that she stay busy so she didn't have time to worry about you."

Luke smiled, indeed that was true about Natalia. As long as she was busy helping people, she was happier. It would indeed be a good way to assuage her grief over his disappearance.

The doors finally opened and Grand Maestro Mohs was seen leaving the hall. He didn't comment at all on the group. "Master Luke, you and your party may see his Majesty now." the guard told him.

They walked inside towards the King and Princess. Luke saw another woman sitting next to the Princess, it was his mother looking to be in good health.

"Luke! You're back!" Natalia exclaimed happily. "Who are the others?"

"Uncle, Natalia, Mother, may I have the pleasure of introducing Fon Master Ion of the Order of Lorelei, his guardian Anise, Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants of the Oracle Knights and Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth Military? Each has traveled a great distance to speak with you on the behalf of Emperor Peony the Ninth. They also were of great assistance in my return home."

"Fon Master, it is good to see you again. It is also a pleasure to meet the others. We appreciate your assistance in bringing Luke home." the King answered. "We will be glad to listen to the message from Emperor Peony."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Jade responded. "His Imperial Majesty has written a letter, if I may?" Ingobert nodded his acceptance. Anise handed the letter to Jade who presented it for the King to read over.

"We will read and consider the words of Emperor Peony the Ninth. For now, while we take time to consider the words, we will prepare chambers for your party. We will speak further on this tomorrow morning. Luke, will you handle the arrangements?" Luke nodded. "Natalia, Susanne, you also may take your leave. I am sure both of you wish to visit with Luke after he has seen to our guests."

"Thank you for your hospitality, your Majesty. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have for us tomorrow." Ion answered.

Natalia and Susanne stood up. "Luke, I will take Natalia to your chamber. Once you have seen to our guests, please come see us for we have missed you greatly." Susanne pleaded.

"I will."

They left the Audience chamber and parted ways outside it. Luke could not help but watch the two women as they departed, especially Natalia. She appeared so beautiful to him, especially as her face had lit up with happiness at his return along with her appearance of good health. Anise snickered when she noticed him staring at his wife.

Tear sighed. "It must be wonderful for Princess Natalia to be so loved by her husband. Both of you are very lucky."

"It's weird!" Anise exclaimed.

"They are both young, it will likely fade in time." Jade remarked.

"Well, now that we have heard from the cynical one, how about I show you to your rooms?"

"That would be wonderful." Tear interjected before anyone else could respond.

-----

After seeing to the comfort of his friends, Luke made his way to his own chamber to greet his wife and mother. He entered and found himself very enthusiastically greeted with a warm hug from his mother. "Luke! It's so good to have you home again!"

He winced as he still felt some pain from the earlier tortures, it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but still painful enough.

"Luke? Are you all right?" Natalia asked upon seeing his pained expression.

"Yeah." he answered. "I made a stupid error and got injured by a monster. I thought it was healed but it seems to still be paining me."

"Do you need me to heal you?" Natalia asked.

"Don't worry about it. It will go away after some rest. You need to conserve your strength.

"Luke, tell us about your trip." Susanne changed the subject. "Commandant Grants gave little details besides that you had been found in Malkuth and that you were with the Fon Master and his entourage.

"A hyperresonance transported myself and Master Van's sister, Tear, to Tataroo Valley."

"Tear? I wasn't aware Commandant Grants even had a sister. She was among those who accompanied you then?"

"Yes. She felt what happened was her fault and promised to escort me home. I find no fault with her escort, she did as promised when it wasn't even her fault."

"So how did you end up in Kaitzur? That was a long way to go, it would have been faster to take another route, wouldn't it?"

"It was night when we awoke in the valley from the experience. Neither Tear, nor I knew where we were, which caused both of us to make an error in finding a coach."

"Luke, you know better than that!" his mother admonished.

"It was an error. Had we known where we were and that we were in Malkuth, we would not have made the error. By the time we realized it, Rotelro Bridge was out, so we could not go back the way we came. Kaitzur was the shortest route remaining to us.

"Aunt Susanne, he's returned to us, isn't that all that matters?"

"Yes, you are right, Natalia." Susanne allowed. "It's just that with what we had been hearing about Malkuth's buildup of troops, it must have been a more dangerous route to take. Lorelei be thanked that you met up with the Fon Master."

"Troop buildup? I saw no such thing in Engeve or St. Binah."

"You didn't? Grand Maestro Mohs mentioned it in his audience with Father." Natalia explained. "You should see Father later and tell him what you saw. I am sure he will want to see you anyhow, he may not have shown it when you returned, but he missed you as much as we did."

"I will visit him later, when he's not as busy. For now all I want to do is catch up with my two favorite women. Tell me all about what happened while I was gone."

-----

Tear found herself feeling restless and antsy. She felt that she shouldn't go any longer without apologizing in person to Princess Natalia and Madam Fabre for her part in spiriting Luke halfway across the world. Even if it was not the fault of either of them, they both still had their part in it. Yet, she didn't want to interrupt a moment between family. Luke did say, however, that she should find him if there were any problems or any of them needed anything.

She remembered most of the directions Luke gave for finding his own chamber if he was needed for any reason, but once she got into the hallway she became very confused. Also, she wanted to try to avoid guards and their untimely questions, but couldn't help gaining their attention since she looked completely lost.

"Where might you be going?" a guard asked her.

"Um, I-I'm sorry. I'm with the emissaries and needed to speak with his Highness." She managed to say.

"Ah, you may proceed. Do you wish an escort to his chamber?"

"That would be very kind of you. I'm having some trouble remembering the way."

The guard escorted her to a chamber on the farthest end of the castle from her own chamber, or so it seemed, as it was a long walk. She was about to enter when she suddenly felt nervous about intruding upon him. "Shall I announce you?" the guard offered.

"Yes, that would be most helpful. I am Tear Grants."

The guard gently knocked on the door. "Master Luke, I have Tear Grants with me, she wishes to speak with you.

"Thank you." Tear said to the guard.

The door opened and she saw Luke with the two women. "Come on in, Tear." He said to Tear. Then to the guard, "Thanks for your assistance. You may return to your post." The guard bowed and left them.

"I'm sorry for bothering you while you are wanting to spend time with your family, but I felt I should personally apologize."

Somehow, he expected this. "Apologize? I told you it wasn't your fault. If you insist though, let me introduce you. Tear, this is my mother, and my wife, Princess Natalia."

Tear dropped to her knees. "Your Highness, Milady, I beg your forgiveness for my part in Luke's disappearance."

"Dear, don't worry about it. It was an accident, and even Luke says it wasn't your fault." Susanne told her. "If anything, Natalia and I are grateful to you for kindly taking such good care of him, and bringing him home to us. If it makes you feel better, you are indeed forgiven."

"Thank you, your Highness, Milady, you are too kind." She said, rising back to her feet.

"Is everything all right, Tear?" Luke asked her.

"Yes, I must thank you for your kindness and hospitality. It is also a pleasure to meet your family after you spoke with such love for them."

"Did he, Tear?" Natalia asked her. Tear nodded in response and this caused Luke to blush. "That is so sweet of him. Thank you for telling me."

Luke could tell that Tear was feeling uncomfortable and thought it best to give her a graceful exit. "You must be tired from the trip Tear, if you would like, I would be happy to show you the way back to your room."

"Oh, no, I should be able to find my way back now. But you are right, I am tired. If I may take my leave, I should get some rest. It was a pleasure to meet you, your Highness, milady."

"Rest well, Tear." Susanne told her. "It was a pleasure meeting you also. Thank you again for bringing my son home to me.

Tear made a somewhat clumsy curtsy to them, and left the room.

-----

Later that evening, Luke was requested to meet with his Uncle privately. After he ate dinner in his room with his wife and mother, he made his way to the King's private chambers to meet with his Uncle.

"You wished to speak with me, Uncle?"

"Yes, Luke. Take a seat." Ingobert told him, motioning to Luke to sit down, which Luke did. "I wanted to ask you about your observations during your journey home. If I understand correctly, you were found within Malkuth?"

"Yes, Uncle. I was transported to Tataroo Valley with Tear. On the way to Kaitzur we did stop in Engeve and St. Binah."

"Did you notice a buildup of military forces?"

"No. The only military force I saw was the force that was escorting the Fon Master. I saw more Oracle Knights than Malkuth military."

"The Oracle Knights?"

"Yes. The force escorting the Fon Master that also happened upon myself and Tear was actually much larger than what arrived to here. We were attacked by a large force of monsters and Oracle Knights between Engeve and St. Binah. We were able to escape, but they were awaiting us in St. Binah also."

"That would explain how you captured your Father's murderer then. According to the papers sent on by General Cecille, he is a high ranking member of the Oracle Knights."

"Yes, he is. He also confessed to the crime in front of me. It was Master Van who took him into custody, however."

"I thought you didn't meet with Commandant Grants until Kaitzur?"

"The Oracle Knights came upon us at Kaitzur Port also."

"I see. It makes the matter even more complex."

"May I ask what Grand Maestro Mohs spoke to you about, Uncle?"

"He told me almost the exact opposite of what you have told me. Obviously, your word is going to mean a lot to me, which is why I wanted your observations."

"I didn't get any impression that Malkuth wants a war. If anything, they were more concerned that we want a war. If there is any troop buildup, which I saw no evidence of, that has to be why."

"My thoughts exactly. Thank you, Luke. I must consider all of this further. Get some rest before we speak again tomorrow." He told Luke, but could not hide the sadness in his eyes.

"Is something the matter, Uncle?"

"No, it's nothing. I just do not like ordering the death of another, no matter what the reason."

"That I can understand. I imagine it will be very hard for me also."

"Yes. You have your Mother's kind heart. It will indeed be difficult for you. Go now and get some rest, Luke. I am sure you are tired from your journey and the endless questions from the women."

"Good night, Uncle."

-----

The next morning dawned with each of the group receiving a missive to be in the Audience Chamber after breakfast. Susanne and Natalia were also asked to be in attendance.

Luke and his family took their breakfast in his chamber. When finished, he escorted his wife and mother to the Audience Chamber.

"You both look radiant today." he complimented the women as they reached the main hall. They did though, at least in his eyes.

Natalia's cheeks showed a hint of color. "I know the truth, Luke, you don't need to try to flatter me."

"It's the truth. To me you are even lovelier because you will be giving me the greatest gift of all in time, our child."

Natalia felt tears come to her eyes at his words, which Susanne quickly wiped away with her handkerchief.

"Natalia, did I say something to upset you?"

"Luke, dear, don't worry, she's not upset."

"But..." then as if proving Susanne's words right, Natalia kissed him full on the lips. This action caused Susanne to have to stifle laughter behind her hand at how adorable they still could be. Luke's face turned as red as his hair once he recalled where he was. It reminded Susanne of when they were children, amazing her at how some things never do change.

"Good morning, Luke!" Anise could be heard saying cheerfully, causing Luke to be startled as he was caught kissing his wife in public. He turned and saw Ion, Anise and Jade standing behind him, Anise was snickering again.

"Good morning. I trust each of you found the accommodations suitable?"

"They were most pleasant. My old bones rested well." Jade commented.

"Yes, we were most pleased, Luke. Thank you for taking such good care of us." Ion told him.

"Has anyone seen Tear? Was she summoned also?" Anise asked.

"I think I saw her earlier, she said something about reporting to Mohs since he was also here and is her superior officer." Jade mentioned.

"Shall we go in, Luke?" Natalia asked.

"Yes, we shouldn't keep Uncle waiting."

The group walked into the Audience Chamber. Upon entering they could see Tear with Grand Maestro Mohs. Natalia and Susanne took their normal seats by the throne.

"Good, all are assembled now. We wished to share with everyone our decision regarding the message from Emperor Peony the Ninth." Ingobert declared. "We have decided to negotiate for further peace with the Malkuth Empire. Emperor Peony has requested our aid in a matter which we will be providing."

"What matter would that be?" Luke asked.

"The mining city, Akzeriuth, is in danger from recent earthquakes causing miasma to fill the mines and city. Malkuth is not even able to get to the city safely. As Akzeriuth was formerly part of Kimlasca, we also have a path to the city that is not filled with miasma. Emperor Peony has requested our assistance in evacuating the citizens of Akzeriuth. Luke, we will be sending you along with Colonel Curtiss to handle this."

"Your Majesty, might I also request that Tear Grants accompany the group on the behalf of the Order of Lorelei?"

"We grant your request, Grand Maestro. Tear Grants would be of a great asset to this aid mission." Ingobert told the Grand Maestro. "Luke, you may take any others you feel you will need to assist you."

"Your Majesty, if I may, I would like to ask a question." Jade interjected.

"We will listen to your question, Colonel Curtiss."

"Why Luke? His wife is expecting and he has already been away from her."

"Tear, you can read the Score, correct?" Tear nodded in response. A man handed her a fonstone. "Would you read the Score written on this fonstone for us?"

"Yes, your Majesty." she answered. She cast the arte required for her to call upon the Seventh Fonon to allow her to understand the fonstone's words. " ND2000. In Kimlasca shall be born the scion of Lorelei's power. He will be of royal blood with hair of red. He shall be called the 'light of the sacred flame' and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity. ND2018. The young scion of Lorelei's power shall bring his people to the miner's city. There..." ...And the rest is missing."

"Thank you. That is why Luke has been chosen for this request. He must be the one spoken of on that fonstone. We do not wish to send him away at this time either, but Yulia's Score must be upheld." Ingobert explained, averting his eyes from Luke. "He should be able to return in time for the birth of his child, and Natalia will be well cared for in his absence."

"When shall we leave then?" Luke asked, trying to remain calm. He could see Natalia dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief, and he hated to upset her. He didn't want to leave her any more than she wanted him to leave, but he had to.

"You may leave tomorrow." Ingobert told them. "You and the emissaries may be dismissed to make plans for your departure tomorrow."

Luke left with the others to make plans. All the time they made plans to leave, he could not help but feel a sense of dread at leaving. He felt that if he left, he may not return.

What could be awaiting him in Akzeriuth?

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	13. A Prolonged Goodbye

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

darkangel - I am glad you liked the dream sequence, figured it out yet by the way?

Taisaya-Ryu - The baby will be cute and its father will love it, does anything else matter? But in other words, just will have to wait until its born, and each chapter I post is one less to wait.

Diluculo - thanks for your comment, and that is something that I intended with this work, for people to see just how decent of a person Asch could be at heart, since the game so seldom showed it.

Apakoha - poor Natalia, she's stuck being the typical woman for now, having to await the return of her love, who may very well never return to her. She eventually will get to join the group though.

* * *

"Guy Cecil, former servant of House Fabre, you stand accused of the murder of your former employer, Duke Fabre on the night of 17 Remday Gnome Decan, ND2018. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" 

"Not a thing." he confessed. "I did it willingly and would do it again if given the choice."

"As the accused has confessed and shows no remorse for his crime, there is no other option but to sentence him to death. His sentence will take place in one week's time. It is advised that the accused take that time to contemplate his crimes and beg forgiveness from Lorelei. Return him to the dungeon."

A group of guards escorted the condemned back to his cell in the dungeon. Luke watched this from his seat near his Uncle. He had been asked to attend in case he was needed as a witness. He had been to such trials before, and was amazed at the fact that it was over so fast. Every other time, no matter how minor the crime, the one accused always spoke in their defense. This time, that was far from the case, his former servant seemed to have no care for the consequences of his actions.

"Uncle, may I be dismissed?" Luke asked. He had much to do before leaving the next day for Akzeriuth, but he also felt a burning need to ask questions, questions of the sort that only the prisoner could answer for him, and his time was indeed quite limited.

"Of course, Luke. You must want to spend time with Natalia before your departure."

"Yes. I will miss her greatly." He lied, even though it wasn't a complete lie, after his curiosity was satisfied, he would spend what time he could with Natalia.

"Then go to her. If I do not speak to you before your departure, have a safe trip."

"I will. I trust Tear and Jade to keep me safe." He assured his Uncle before leaving the Audience Chamber. Once he had left, he made his way to the lower levels where the dungeons were. At this time, the only prisoner was his former servant, Guy. There was a guard on duty.

"Master Luke, how might I be of service?" the guard on duty asked him.

"I'd like to speak with the prisoner."

"If you wish to, I have no reason to deny your request. You may have fifteen minutes. Call if you need me." the guard said as he led Luke to the cell that housed the condemned prisoner.

Luke had not actually been within one of the cells before, so he had no idea what to expect, other than a spare room with no comforts. He was somewhat surprised to see the blonde haired man chained to the wall, but he figured that had been done to prevent a possible escape.

"Welcome to my humble abode, Luke. Well, at least it is until my head is parted from my body next week." he joked.

"How can you be so complacent about your impending death?" Luke exclaimed. "If it were me, I would have argued in my defense even if I had done it."

"That is where we differ, Luke. You led a charmed life as royalty, pampered and protected by your family. I did not. I knew the consequences for my actions and accepted them before acting."

"Did my father mistreat you then? I thought you were treated fairly."

"Your father did much worse than that. Do you really want to hear about what sort of people those you call family are?"

"What could Father have done to cause you to hate him so much?"

"Fine, you asked, and you're old enough to know the truth now. How much did you learn about the Hod War?"

"It took place when I was young, but I know Father served in the military during that time."

"Did you hear from him what he did to serve his kingdom?"

"He fought to defend Kimlasca. There is no shame in defending your country."

"Is there? Was it necessary then to kill each and every last woman and child in the noble houses, including the servants?"

"No, such a thing should not be necessary, unless they attacked first, then there is a right to defend one's self."

"You're right, everyone has a right to defend themselves. But your father didn't attack my family and my servants in self-defense. The only thing they did was shield me from him. I was five years old! What threat could I be? But had they not shielded me, I would have died along with them. My sister wasn't as lucky as I was. She died protecting me, the heir to our house."

"That can't be! Father would never kill innocents!"

"Are you so sure? If you don't believe me, ask Jade the Necromancer about it. I doubt he would lie to you, and he would know well those of the most threat to the Malkuth Empire."

Luke thought that over a moment. Jade did seem pleased at the news of his father's death when it came up before. "I'll do that." Luke told him. "If I may ask another question? Did your plans for my family include my death?"

"At one time you deserved it, but do you really think I'd stoop to your father's level and kill an innocent child?"

"I don't know what to expect from you now, you've changed into an insane monster, twisted by your need for revenge. You're no different from him, even if what you say is true!"

"Liar!"

"You are! It was cold-blooded murder! He didn't even get a chance to defend himself! How is that different from what he did to your family?!"

Guy was shocked speechless by Luke's words. "Damn you!" Then he smiled.

"What's that for?" Luke asked him, confused by his sudden change in demeanor.

"It's not important. Don't lose that decency and wisdom you have when you become king, ok?"

"I won't. I apologize for what my father did to you and your family. If there was anything I could do..."

"There isn't. Have a good life, don't do anything you will regret later."

"I will. I promise. Can I ask you one more thing?"

"I guess."

"Did Master Van know anything of your plans or order you to do it?"

"My plans were my own. His plans are his own. I follow orders, but that wasn't one of them."

"Thanks for telling me. Again, Guy, I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing. If anything, I should be sorry, but I won't waste your time begging your forgiveness. I don't deserve it."

"Master Luke! Your time is up!"

"One moment!" he called to the guard. "You have my forgiveness, for what it's worth. I can't deny that with how you accept your guilt and are willingly taking your punishment. Good bye."

"Good bye."

-----

Luke walked into the main hall of the castle and saw Tear and Jade engrossed in conversation with each other. They didn't even notice as he approached them, but he could hear their conversation clearly.

"…God-Generals have been spotted nearby? Are they after Ion again?"

"I have no idea. Isn't the Fon Master returning to Daath once the negotiations are finished?"

"He planned to return with Grand Maestro Mohs. Not a bad plan, as it gets the Grand Maestro away from where he can plan further seeds of doubt."

"You know about that?" Luke asked.

"Of course. He did the same thing with his Imperial Majesty."

A very out of breath Anise ran up to the group. "Colonel, have you seen Ion?"

"Wasn't he with you, Anise?"

"He said he needed to go back to our room, but when I just checked on him, he wasn't there."

"Anise, you, Tear and myself will search the city. Luke, can you handle the castle on your own?"

"Sure. The guards will help search for him. Don't worry Anise, if he's here, we will find him."

"Let's meet here in one hour, whether he is found or not, agreed?" Everyone nodded in response.

-----

An hour passed with no sign of the Fon Master. The group met at the castle as planned. Ion wasn't with Anise and the others, but an hour wasn't enough time to check the whole city, especially with only three people who were not familiar with the area looking.

"Luke, any sign of Ion?"

"The guards are still searching, but earlier one recalled seeing him speaking with Grand Maestro Mohs and leaving the castle with him. No guard has seen either of them return since that time. So I sent some outside the castle to relay the message to those guards stationed outside in the city itself."

"Good thinking, Luke."

"Shall we continue searching the town then?"

"Let's check the entry points first. That way we can ensure Ion is indeed still in the city before conducting a further search of the city."

"Luke, you and Anise take the main entrance. Tear and I will take the port. If you don't see Ion or the Grand Maestro, ask around for information, especially from the guards on duty."

"Got it, let's go Luke!"

Luke was amazed at how Anise was able to remain cheerful during all this. Not that it was a bad thing, it gave her endless energy to get the task at hand done. They headed quickly to the front entrance of the city and saw no sign of either Ion or Mohs.

Inquiries with the guards provided more insight into the matter. Ion and Mohs have indeed left the city. Neither of them has yet returned and over an hour had passed. Chances were very good that both were beyond their reach by now. Having obtained that information, they returned to the castle to await Jade and Tear, who returned just a short time after they did.

"Any news?"

"One of the guards saw Ion leave the city with Mohs. Neither has returned. Too much time has passed since then for us to catch up, at least by foot."

"And it is getting too late for us to track down their whereabouts. It would be too easy to miss signs that could lead to them, if we left now. Anise, I know you are concerned, but we have more chance of finding him if we wait until the morning" Jade suggested.

"I know, but that doesn't stop me from being worried about Ion."

"We'll leave at first light, Anise. Will that work for everyone?" They all agreed to the Colonel's plan. "Then get some rest before we leave, Luke. We can finish making the arrangements for an early departure."

-----

Luke returned to his chamber to find Natalia impatiently awaiting him, "What happened to you? I thought you were coming right up after the trial?"

"I had to speak with the others about our departure arrangements. Then we had to search for the Fon Master."

"What happened to him?"

"All we were able to find out was that he left the city with the Grand Maestro."

"Then that should be no cause for concern, right?"

"It's more complicated than that. I really don't want to talk politics now though, not with my having to leave. It's hard enough to say good bye as it is." He explained further as he got undressed to join her in bed.

"You're right." she agreed.

He slid into bed with her. While all he could go was gently hold her, that was enough. Both needed that small comfort now, and both took that small comfort gladly. What he didn't understand was why she seemed upset to him. "Are you feeling all right?" he asked her.

"I am fine." she assured him. However, he didn't believe her. She might be fine as far as her health went physically, but he doubted she was taking his leaving so soon after his return as well as she appeared. She was good to putting on a front of not objecting though.

"You are even fine with the idea of me leaving so soon?"

"Do I have a choice about it? I wasn't given one by father. You have to go, and I am in no condition to come with you, so like a typical woman, I must wait for your return."

"I see, that is what you object to. Your role as a typical woman when you would rather be by my side."

"Perhaps."

"If I could, I would bring you with me."

"I know you would. I will still miss you though, but I will await your return like a good wife would."

"I will miss you more than you know. I love you, Natalia."

"I love you too, Luke. Please do hurry back to me. We can only wait so long for you and your child wants to meet you."

"He had better wait. Not just for my return, but it is much too soon for his appearance."

"That's what I keep telling him. So don't keep us waiting too long."

"I won't. I promise."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep."

"Why? You don't think I can?" he seemed concerned at her choice of words there. "Do you know something I don't?"

"No, it's nothing. I am just worrying too much for you."

"If you say so." he told her, still not quite believing her.

-----

Late that night a ship arrived carrying two passengers, a woman sedately dressed all in black, her face covered with a veil. The other passenger was an unknown male who was escorting the female. His identity could not be established as he was concealing his face even more than the woman was. Both were met at the port by a gaudily dressed woman with pink hair. Their group made their way to the inn so they could talk in a more private setting.

"Any news?" the woman in black asked.

"They arrived yesterday with him. The talk around town was that his trial took place today and he was sentenced at that time." The other woman answered her.

"And?"

"We have a few days."

"I thought so. They always do love to make examples, especially if nobility is involved in any way. Is the boy still in the city?"

"He leaves tomorrow as word would have it."

"Can we be ready to implement the plan tomorrow?"

"Our end is covered. If you are ready, so are we."

"Then we will await your signal tomorrow. By this time tomorrow, we should be on our way again."

"So, tell me about your escort here, I don't recall meeting him before."

"His name is nothing you need to know about."

"Can he not speak for himself then?"

"My lady, my companion is correct." he told her.

"A shame, I thought perhaps he might be up for some entertainment."

"Another time, perhaps?" he offered.

"I will look forward to it. Will I be able to see your face then?"

"Absolutely."

"Until then. I bid you both good night." she said as she walked off.

-----

The next morning came far too soon for Luke's tastes. He would be leaving for Akzeriuth this morning, but he did not wish to leave, even though he knew his duty. He slowly got out of bed, trying not to wake Natalia, as he wanted to let her sleep until the last moment possible. A quick goodbye was better than a prolonged one that would upset her further.

He dressed himself in comfortable clothes meant for traveling. They were made of a dark and soft material, but rather study so they would take a lot of abuse, which he knew would be coming. It was going to be a long day searching for Ion's whereabouts. He also made sure to pack lighter clothing more meant for desert travel, as the only trail to Akzeriuth by foot involved traveling through the Zao Desert, which was not a fun trip even at the best of times.

He had just finished dressing and packing when Natalia woke up. "Luke, you weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" she asked him sleepily.

"I was just about to wake you, dear. I wanted to let you sleep as long as possible."

"You know I wanted to see you off."

"I know, and the last thing I wanted to do was leave without a word. I also don't want to argue with you, bad words upon leaving leads to bad news coming home. I don't want that."

"You're right. You wouldn't do something to upset me like that, forgive me for thinking so."

He didn't respond to her apology with words, instead he kissed her softly on the lips, a kiss that she gladly returned with the same eagerness . It took some time, but they eventually broke away from each other, her face a bit flushed from it. "I will miss you greatly. If Lorelei permits, I will return in time to see our child enter the world. I love you, Natalia."

"I love you too, Luke. Please return to me quickly and in good health."

"I will do what I can, I promise."

"As long as you return to me in good health, I will be pleased."

"I trust in Tear and Jade to look after me and keep me safe."

"Then I will trust in them also. Have a safe trip."

"I better go before they come looking for me." He gave her one last kiss before leaving the room to meet with the others.

Once he walked out of the room, she got out of bed and walked over to the window so she could watch as he left.

-----

Luke met up with the rest of the group in the main hall of the castle. The others were waiting for him already, even though he wasn't actually late.

"Sorry guys..."

"You aren't late. Anise was just so eager to leave she made sure we woke up early. She would have done the same to you, but the Colonel told her that she would likely be interrupting something." Tear explained, which caused Luke and Anise's faces to turn a shade of red similar to Luke's hair.

"I was not!" Anise denied.

"Don't deny it Anise. It was only the fact that I told you that Luke would want to give his wife a private goodbye that stopped you from going to wake him yourself."

Anise didn't respond to Jade's dig, instead Luke responded. "I hated saying goodbye, but we should be going now, shouldn't we?"

"Then shall we go? Then we can have less time of dealing with a worried Anise and a pining member of the Kimlascan royalty?"

The group then departed for the main gates so they could pick up on Ion's trail from where it began. As they left the castle, from Luke's chamber, Natalia watched them sadly. The moment they left her sight, tears started falling down her cheeks. She already missed him greatly.

Their departure wasn't noted by just Natalia though, another woman noticed their departure. This woman, however found it to be a good thing. Now she could move along with her plans.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! And here's to my hoping that the next chapter will cooperate with me more than this one did!  



	14. The Escape

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Wow guys, thanks for the tons of reviews on the first day of having the chapter posted! You guys made me feel really good, because honestly, I didn't like 13 as much as 12 and 11. Now, I did give personal responses to each person who reviewed that were in more detail, but I also want to answer the questions to some degree here so that if anyone else has the same question, it is getting answered.

RiaxXxaiR - the mystery woman's identity is revealed in this chapter, both names she uses, as she has two. And your first question should be answered by the end of this chapter. Yes, I admit to being mean and hinting in multiple directions, but what fun would the plot be if you guys knew what was going to happen next all the time?

Taisaya-Ryu - it just felt forced to me, that is what I felt was wrong with it. I couldn't seem to make the progress I made with the others, it took longer to write and for less material and Luke and Natalia were extremely uncooperative.

And I feel a need to include one small note. The name Solange means "rare jewel". Anyway, enjoy the longest chapter yet, at least until the Akzeriuth chapter which will likely be 17

* * *

A man with red hair and a veiled woman dressed entirely in black approached Baticul's Castle. The woman kept her face downcast, as befitted the role she was playing, that of a widow. It wasn't too far from the truth, if she failed, she would be a widow soon, and that could not happen. 

The guards at the castle gate smiled as they approached. "Master Luke! Good day to you. Who might the lady be?"

"Lady Solange wishes to visit the prisoner. I have granted her permission, as I cannot deny a condemned criminal whatever comfort he can find in his last days." The redhead said to them.

"Go right ahead, Master Luke. Would be heartless to deny her if she wants to see him."

Both of them walked inside towards the dungeon. They were not challenged by any of the guards going about their business. They did receive some friendly greetings from some of the guards; but for the most part they tried to go unnoticed

"Master Luke!" The guard on duty enthusiastically greeted the red haired boy as they reached the lower level. "Have you brought a visitor?"

"Lady Solange of House Gardios wishes to visit with the prisoner. She came all the way from Malkuth to do so and I granted her permission. If she may have a private moment with him, it would be appreciated."

"She may have fifteen minutes with him. Anything more than that would require permission from His Majesty."

"Is that sufficient, my lady?" The woman's companion boy asked her, who nodded slowly in response.

The guard unlocked the cell that, at this time, housed the lone prisoner, and he motioned to the woman to enter. "Let me know if you need me sooner. I will return in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, sir." She told him, her voice barely above a whisper. The door closed behind her and she waited until she heard the lock click back to a locked position before getting a look at him.

He did look pale and thinner than he had been the last she saw him, but she could see that he hadn't been seriously mistreated. He was held back by chains, but there was no evidence that he had been beaten or whipped, just restrained. She breathed a sigh of relief, he was in much better shape than she had expected. A bath, a few days of nourishing food and some sun and he would be back to his old self.

"Ah, it seems luck has shined on me." He smiled at her looking up at the lady who had graced his presence. He recognized her right away, despite the concealing veil. He would know her anywhere. "I am indeed lucky to get the comfort of a lovely jewel before I am to die. Might I see your face, my love?"

She removed the veil that was concealing her face. "If I can help it, we will have more than just this." She whispered to him.

"Come closer, my beautiful, rare jewel."

She smiled at the endearment. She so rarely got to hear it from him, so when he could say it, it was all the more special to her. She hated having to hide her feelings for him all the time, but it did make those moments when she didn't all the more special. This was definitely one of them, even if she only had maybe minutes before the signal came, and she sure wasn't going to waste it. She got closer to him and wrapped her arms around him and held him close. She kissed him so eagerly, that it seemed like she was trying to make sure she would have something to last her forever.

He returned her kiss, but found the chains prevented him from holding her as he wished. It didn't matter, kissing her was enough, the sweet taste of her lips would indeed last him forever if need be, but if he knew her well, she was plotting something. She wouldn't let him go without a fight, and he would do the same for her.

Both of them were so absorbed in each other that they did not hear the loud thumping sound of someone falling to the ground, which was to signal the start of the plan.

She then heard the distinct scraping sound that indicated a key opening a lock. Both of them barely had enough time to react to it, but they pulled themselves away just in time for a familiar man to be admitted into the cell. He was holding a set of keys and started working on unlocking the chains holding the blonde God-General being held prisoner.

"What the-?! He exclaimed to the red haired boy. "Why are you releasing me Luke?"

The boy was indeed dressed exactly like Luke. He smiled before answering. "I leave it to Cantabile to explain later. Cantabile, could you undress the guard while I work on these chains? I will leave the rest to you after that, as you know I shouldn't be here."

The lovely blue-haired woman stood and left the cell. Once outside it, she could see the guard from earlier lying on the ground, his neck twisted at an angle that would be very unnatural for one who was still alive. His pale stillness spoke of the fact that he was no longer among the living.

She wasn't bothered by the fact that an innocent man had died. She knew it was necessary. She definitely learned over the years that she would have to do some rather despicable things to get what she wanted from life, and Gailardia was definitely someone she had wanted in her life ever since they met again.

They had known each other as children growing up on Hod before its destruction. Her family and his were very close, and it was no surprise the children were friends too. She knew that her duty, as the eldest daughter of her house, was to marry well. She was chosen to be the wife of the heir to House Gardios.

But Hod's destruction changed her life. She lost her whole family, and almost died herself. She was lucky to have been found by one of the servants of House Gardios, a man now known as Van Grants. She repaid her debt to him in saving her life when she was old enough by joining the Oracle Knights with him.

_ "Cantabile, do you recall the one I served back on Hod?" _

_ "Yes, Commandant, you used to be a servant of House Gardios, I did remember meeting you in the past when I visited." _

_ "How would you feel if you were to be in command of the heir? Eventually, he would report directly to me, but I need someone to train him." _

_ She couldn't believe her ears. Gailardia, alive? She thought only her and Van remained of those she knew from Hod. She wondered what he was like now, as he must be almost grown up. "I will do as you command, Commandant." She acknowledged, trying not to show her eagerness at meeting her childhood friend again. _

She smiled remembering the day she met him again. They would indeed have many more days together, as she was sure her plan would work and he would be free again. She finished removing the uniform from the guard, leaving him his undergarments, as the dead deserved some dignity and she had no need of them.

She re-entered the cell, and was ecstatic at the sight she saw. Her red haired companion had freed her fellow God-General and was supporting him for the time being. He had to get used to being without the chains restricting his movement and even the blood flowing freely to his arms and legs. It was rather painful for him, but he was adjusting quickly.

"Thank you for your help." She told her red haired companion. "I definitely owe you one."

"It was no problem, but I must be going as I am already late."

"Wait, can you do one last favor before you leave the city?"

The red head stopped in his movement to leave them, and turned, "If I can, what sort of favor would you ask of me?"

"In Fabre manor, there is an item of value to my family. Could you retrieve it for me before you leave?"

"What item?"

"A sword, it belonged to my father. It hangs in the main hallway near the entrance. You should be able to remove it from the household without question."

"I will see what I can do. I will leave you in the capable hands of Cantabile for now and meet you aboard your ship if I am successful." He told them as he placed one of Guy's arms around Cantabile's shoulder so he could be supported until he could stand on his own with no problems.

"Thanks, I will owe you if you succeed."

The red haired boy left to complete his errand for them. Once he was out of sight, Cantabile set to the task of aiding her fellow God-General into the dead man's uniform so he could escape undetected.

"Thanks, love, for not giving up on me." He whispered to in her ear.

"Here, let me help you with this." She answered him, as she set to work at helping him put on the uniform, as he seem to have difficulty with the fastenings. She didn't mind though, even though she did indeed prefer undressing him to dressing him. She hoped they would have some time alone for that before they had to move on to their next location. It had been much too long since the last time they were alone.

Their relationship was one of many stolen moments. Since he started off under her direct command, she wasn't able to outright show him any more attention than she had shown others in her command. There were rules against having a relationship of that sort, and she knew it. But she also knew that as long as they were discreet about it, they could do as they pleased. It was a game of sorts, one that many played, including her.

_The door opened to her office admitting him, he locked it behind him. "You wished to see me?" he asked her. _

_ "Yes, I thought we could discuss a few things. I have had some complaints from the other woman about your phobia. We need to do something about it. Do you have any suggestions?" _

_ He sighed. "I don't know what causes my reaction" _

_ "It could be your death someday. I don't want that. If there is anything I can do to help, just ask." _

_ "Maybe you could. You have indeed grown into a beautiful woman." _

_ "What are you suggesting Gailardia?" _

_ "I haven't forgotten that we were promised to each other." _

_ "We aren't on Hod anymore. That promise is null and void." _

_ "But yet I find you beautiful and care for you greatly, and you don't seem to scare me as much as the other women." _

_ She frowned, that always did bother her. Did he not see her as a woman then? Or was it something else? "I think this should stop before I slap you. You seem to be implying that I must not be a woman." _

_ "Would I do this then if I didn't think you a woman?" He told her before he leaned over and kissed her. _

_ She was startled at first by his action, he shouldn't be doing this, but yet she couldn't stop herself from enjoying it. The taste of his lips, the feelings it aroused within her. She did indeed still care for him even after all these years and both of them no longer being children. She couldn't deny that she found him attractive and would like any attentions he would give her. She found herself returning his kiss. _

She would never forget that day. He was the first who made her truly feel like a woman, and be glad for it. Especially since she received the injury that resulted in the loss of her eye not long after joining the Oracle Knights, she always felt herself less of a woman., and she didn't have the voluptuous figure most other women had, which made her feel even more self-conscious. She was so happy that a man as attractive to her as Gailardia felt her to be beautiful. It really was no surprise that they ended up lovers.

She brought her thoughts to the current situation as she finished off the fastenings on the uniform. He did look quite dashing in it, but then she would find him handsome no matter what he was in. She gave him a quick kiss, "For luck, my love." She whispered to him, and then put the helmet on him. "How is that? Do I need to adjust anything?"

"Just fine. So tell me how you plan to get me out of this place?"

"Since Luke has other things to attend to, and you are off-duty now, you thought to be a gentleman and escort the lady who found herself without an escort to her ship home. Your informants are working to distract the guards within the city, so we should meet with very few guards, but if we do, let me do the talking, so I can express my gratitude for your kindness towards a lonely widow." She explained with a small twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "If all goes according to plan, we will be on our way to Chesedonia shortly."

"Lonely widow huh? I will have to do something about that, but later." He promised her.

She replaced the concealing veil that a widow would indeed wear, but it also worked well at concealing her appearance. "Later. Let's first get out of this place, then you can do all you want to ease my loneliness, I promise."

"I will indeed hold you to that, my rare jewel."

They left the cell and headed towards the main hall. As they went past the dead guard, they could see that they keys to the cell had been left with the corpse. That should leave a mystery to solve, once the body was found, which hopefully they had at least a few hours of a head start on, as the rest of the guards should be rather busy by now trying to keep peace in the city.

They reached the main hall, the number of guards was indeed smaller than it was earlier, and the few they did see did not pay attention to them. Luck was indeed with them, as this was the hardest part. They kept calm and headed outside. There was only one guard left on duty at the gate, and he was paying more attention to what was going on around than anyone leaving. Sounds of rioting could be heard in the distance, it likely was coming from the lower levels. Noir had promised to make sure it would be away from where they had to go to get to the port.

Noir did indeed deliver her promise, and very well. The city was almost completely vacant for where they needed to go. There were a few people, but most were not paying attention to anyone else, they were in too much of a hurry to get somewhere else. They saw no guards on their entire trip to the port, not even on the elevators, which was very unusual. It was just to be hoped that Noir and her crew didn't land themselves in the dungeon in the process, but they were very good at getting their way out of trouble.

They reached the port and saw their first guard since leaving the castle. This guard was being kept rather busy by Noir herself, and he appeared to be enjoying every moment of it.

"Go up and relieve him from his post, I bet he's dying to go off with her." Cantabile whispered to him.

He nodded, and walked up towards the guard, who stiffened upon seeing another Kimlascan guard approach. "I've come to relieve you, you got the rest of the night off."

"Good timing! Thanks, man, I owe you one!" the guard told him rather eagerly. The guard then took Noir's arm and let her lead him away, Noir winked at Cantabile as she left. That guard at least would have an enjoyable night. Once he was out of sight, Cantabile joined her companion and then they boarded the ship awaiting their arrival.

"Wow! I am indeed impressed that it all worked. Should we make ready for departure then?" One of the Knights on the ship asked upon seeing them board.

"Not yet. There is one more we are waiting on, he should arrive any moment. He's not going to stay, he just has to drop something off. Could you take that item from him and deliver it to us in the morning? Once he is on his way, make ready for departure."

"Sure, no problem, Commander."

"And make sure that we are not disturbed unless it is an emergency. The ship had better be sinking or on fire or under attack for either of us to be disturbed this night, understood?"

"Understood, Commander."

They then headed to one of the cabins prepared for their arrival. For the sake of discretion, Cantabile ordered two cabins prepared, but only planned on using one. She opened the door and found it just as she requested. Clothes had been left out for them and there was also a warm bath waiting.

"Lock the door behind you." He quietly requested of her.

She did as he asked, and made sure the door was securely locked, as it wouldn't do at all for the others to find them together like this. It was understood that she would likely have to look him over for injuries, but not what they planned to spend the night doing. Once the door was locked, she removed her veil and put it aside.

"Thank you for saving me. I owe you my life."

"Do you really think I could live without you after knowing your love? Never."

"You would though."

"And spend every moment missing you."

"As I would if it were you. I don't know what I would do without you. You and our son make my life complete."

"I don't want to think about life without both of you. Just hold me and make me forget what they wanted to do to you. I need you, and our son needs his father."

"Gladly, and even more than that." He told her before removing the helmet he was wearing and kissed her. He then drew her close to him.

She returned his kiss as she wrapped her arms around him holding him close to her, as if she felt he might be torn away from her again. She could feel the warm wetness of tears falling down her cheek.

He stopped kissing her at that moment. "Don't, my love. It's okay now, you have no reason to be upset."

"I'm not upset."

"Then why the tears?"

"I-I can't help it."

He smiled at her. She hadn't reacted like that since their wedding day. She hated showing weakness, and she felt that tears were indeed a weakness. "Don't think it's bad to cry because you are happy. I love you all the more for your supposed weakness of being a woman. It makes you all the more beautiful to me, just like the jewel you are named for is beautiful for the flaws that make it sparkle all the more."

"Stop being so sweet and charming, I may end up crying even more."

"I only say the truth."

"Come on, let's get those clothes off you, we don't need any more reminders of this, and you could indeed use the bath I ordered for you."

"Only if you join me in it."

"But-"

"No buts, it's large enough for us both, I want to enjoy your care for as long as I can have it."

"You know I can't refuse such a thing, I always enjoy the way you make me feel. I just wish…"

"What do you wish, my love?"

"That this was all over and we could have a simple life as a family with our son. I miss him so much."

"When we return to Daath, we can ask Van about an assignment near our home. Until then, let's not waste a moment that we have." He whispered to her before he pulled her close to him and kissed her again.

Neither of them wasted a moment. Their bath grew quite cold before they finished, as they distracted each other so much from it. Not that either of them minded. By the time they arrived to their destination, they made enough memories with each other to last a very long time, or at least so they hoped, as it likely would be weeks at minimum before they could return to Daath to request a mission near their home in Grand Chokmah.

-----

Luke found himself drawn again to the beautiful, polished wall within the field of grass. He was confused by what drew him here this time, as it was oddly different. This time he didn't find the field and the wall by accident, he felt as if he were drawn here by some mysterious force.

He hesitantly placed a hand upon the wall, feeling that all it would accomplish was marring the beautifully polished surface with his handprint. He was surprised when his hand actually disappeared within the wall as if it were made of nothing more than black water, rather than a smooth polished stone.

He quickly withdrew his hand, much like when one places his hand on something so hot that it burns. He looked at his hand and saw no evidence that it had hurt him in any way. He carefully touched the surface again and found that it was still not as solid as it appeared. This time though, he was somehow forced to go through the wall.

Surprised that he was even able to go through the wall, along with the fact that he did not do so of his own free will, he lost control of his movement and ended up upon the ground once he came out on the other side. He lay there for a time both to catch his breath and to better get an idea of his surroundings.

He was surprised to find himself in a field much the same as the one he had left. The major difference was that the one he left was light as if it were day. This one was darker than the darkest moonless night. The grass was dry underneath him also, no dew had fallen yet.

From a distance he saw a hint of light. The light was coming towards him. Curious about who or what it was, he stood up to get a glimpse of it, and to prepare himself in case it was hostile.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised by who he saw. He saw the boy from the last time he had been near the wall, but this time was different. He appeared to be the source of the light in this darkness, as the closer he got, the brighter the light became, and he was holding nothing to shed light on the area. He appeared much the same as before, but the lighting actually allowed Luke to see his clothing in more detail this time. He couldn't quite make out what the markings were, but it appeared to be some sort of dark colored uniform.

"Good. You made it. I was becoming afraid that I would have to come find you." the boy told him.

"I feel as if I am at a disadvantage here. You seem to know who I am, but I don't know who you are besides the vague answer I received last time."

"It was the truth though. My name would be meaningless to you."

"Humor me. Your name must mean something if I were to look hard enough."

"If you insist, Luke. I am called Kiran."

"Just Kiran? No last name?"

"I have no family to take a last name from."

"How can you have no family to take a name from? Even if they no longer are alive, you still would hold their name."

"Again, I have no family to take a name from."

"Do you not know your parents then?"

"I did not call you here to talk about myself. I am a rather dull subject. I wanted to tell you something."

Somehow Luke doubted Kiran was a dull subject, but he was learning very fast that Kiran didn't like to talk about himself except in vague terms that tended to provide more questions than answers. At least he now had a name to go by, that was something. "What do you wish to tell me?"

"You are searching for someone, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"I cannot say, but your answer tells me I am right."

"So what if you are right?"

"What if I could tell you where he is? Would you go there?"

"Why should I trust you? You have given me no reason to trust you. You won't even give me any information about you."

"What would it hurt to trust me this one time? If I am right, you know I am trustworthy, and find the one you seek. If I am wrong, the worst is that it costs you a small amount of time, as the location isn't far from your current one."

"Let's say I consider it, who is the someone you are going to lead me to?"

"Fon Master Ion."

"How can you know where he is? Were you involved in his disappearance?"

"No, I was not. He is in the Zao Ruins."

"And where is that?"

"I have said all that I can say. The ruins are not far, you will find them if you want to."

"And what do you get for telling me this?"

"You would not understand yet, but you will soon."

"Must you always be so damn vague?" Luke shouted to the boy who did not respond, he merely turned to walk away. "Wait! How do I get back?"

The boy turned towards him and came closer. "The same way I left your field, through the wall."

"My field?"

"If you haven't figured it out yet, I cannot take the time to explain. You better go. Fare well, Luke." He turned back around and walked away from Luke.

"Good bye, Kiran." he said to the strange boy's back as he walked off. Maybe someday Kiran will be less mysterious, or at least the pieces of what he kept saying will come together.

As Kiran was about to leave Luke's sight, Luke could see the light grow brighter around the strange boy. Luke was pushed backwards through the wall. Before he went completely through it though, he noticed something that he didn't notice earlier. Kiran's clothes were indeed a uniform. The markings were just like those on the uniforms of the other God-Generals! A God-General who can walk in dreams? He would definitely have to ask the others about this.

-----

"Luke! Wake up already! It's long past time for us to leave." a frightened sounding female voice exclaimed in his ear.

"Maybe we should pour cold water over him. I hear that works really well." Another female suggested, this female was younger sounding. As she said that, he could feel a pressure on his chest. Was Mieu on him and then jumped off?

"Don't pour water on me, Anise!" a squeaky voice said. Yep, Mieu was involved in this too. He really didn't like the sound of this though. He opened his eyes and sat up quickly to avoid being drenched by Anise and Tear. He saw them hovering above him and noticed that he somehow ended up on the floor.

"Anise, he's awake now."

"Oh, that's no fun!"

"I don't care for the idea of being doused with cold water while I am sleeping, Anise, but thanks for the concern. Anyway, how did I end up on the floor?"

"We were hoping you could tell us. You overslept, so we came to wake you up. Nothing would wake you up it seemed. We were considering other ideas when you fell off the bed and still did not awaken. Then Anise suggested the water and you woke up."

"Definitely have to remember that for the future, but have the water ready so he doesn't have a chance to wake up first."

"I wasn't, um, I mean, I didn't-"

"You weren't talking in your sleep, Luke, but you sure do snore!" Anise informed him. Tear attempted to stifle laughter behind her hand as the redhead's face turned a shade that matched his hair rather well.

"I do not snore!"

"Maybe your wife just never said anything about it." Tear pointed out. "Anyway, you usually have no problem with oversleeping. Can you tell us what happened?"

"Just the strangest dream I have ever had."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really, but I do have a question. Do either of you know someone by the name of Kiran?"

"Kiran? No, I can't say I have ever heard the name before. Have you, Anise?"

"Nope. At least no one I know of in Daath has such a name. Why do you ask, Luke?"

"The dream seemed so real to me. I met a young man who said his name was Kiran, and his clothing appeared like that of a God-General, but I had never seen him before."

"A God-General? But we have met all of them, well, except, wait, could it be?" Tear considered.

"Tear?"

"There is one other God-General. But neither Anise, nor I have met him or even know his name."

"Can he walk into other people's dreams?"

"I don't know. We honestly know nothing about him or his abilities."

"Damn it!" Luke exclaimed. "And for some reason, he seemed interested in me, invades my dreams, is vague and cryptic and tells me where Ion is when the God-Generals a whole seem keen on having him to themselves. Everything just sounds so wonderful."

"He told you where Ion is?"

"Yeah, but I don't really know how reliable it is, since a dream seems like an odd source of information, doesn't it? He said I would have to see for myself if he could be trusted."

"Where did he say Ion is?" Anise asked Luke.

"You are going to trust what even Luke thinks is strange, Anise?" Tear inquired of the girl.

"Any clue is better than no clue. We have been tracking him anyhow, so maybe it will save some time." She mentioned. "What can it hurt to at least consider it even if it's a strange source of information?"

"Anise, how do you know this isn't just a figment of Luke's imagination? It was a long trip through the desert you know." A male voice interjected from behind her.

"Colonel! Stop sneaking up on us like that!" Anise squealed.

"I wasn't sneaking. I was just listening." The Colonel shrugged. "So what did this figment of Luke's imagination say about Ion's location?"

"Jade, do you know where the Zao Ruins are?" Luke asked him.

"Hmm, they are rumored to be in this area. But if they exist, they are over 2000 years old and could very well be buried in the desert."

"That is where he said Ion is."

"I have to admit, it could be possible, if it's not a figment of your imagination caused by heat stroke. It would depend on where the ruins are located."

"Why don't we ask around of the people who live here? They would know if anyone does." Tear suggested.

"Sounds like it could work." Jade allowed.

"We'll go ask around while you get ready then, Luke." Tear told him.

"All right. Thanks guys."

"For what?" Tear asked him.

"For not thinking I am crazy and helping me see if this really is the truth or indeed as Jade says, a figment of my imagination caused by heat stroke. I admit, I wonder that myself."

"Don't worry about it, ok? Just get ready so we can leave once we know if these ruins are where we need to be going." Tear suggested to him.

The group left him to his thoughts as he got himself ready for another long trip through the desert. Had he really met the elusive God-General that even the others knew nothing about, or was he really indeed just a figment of his imagination? Only time would tell it seemed, as he somehow knew he would meet the boy again.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 

And one last A/N: All the backstory for Guy and Cantabile in this chapter mostly came from the imaginations of myself along with a few others who help me with brainstorming. I could not find any official source to confirm or deny my own theories, but Cantabile especially needed something, so I went with it. As I kept thinking things over more, I thought she likely knew Guy somehow, as she seemed to have a connection to Tear and Van. So I came up with the idea of them being childhood friends on Hod, and it grew from there. Now they are my second favorite pairing behind AschxNatalia. And expect more neat backstory for them, along with the others, as this should have given a taste of how much thought has been put into the characters for this story.


	15. A Wild Goose Chase?

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings.

Trystle - That would be telling now, wouldn't it? Give it time, I promise if it doesn't make sense by the end of this chapter, it will definitely by the end of the Akzeriuth chapter, well the one that is almost entirely Akzeriuth, as they arrive in the next chapter, so I am speaking of 17 (which by the way, has three scenes already written for it, I got bored)

Taisaya-Ryu - Haru is right, that's telling, and I much prefer teasing and taunting (which my beta can attest to, and could be why I love writing those dreams). All I will say is that Tear and Luke had some things right and some things wrong and didn't even begin to get into some other things. As I said above for Trystle, it will make sense by the end of the Akzeriuth chapter if you haven't figured it out yet.

And to everyone else, thanks for the reviews, and also thanks for reading so much, 3000 hits now, wow! Never had a fic this popular before, but it wouldn't be popular if it wasn't for the folks who are reading it and especially those who take the time to review so thanks all of you guys.

* * *

Luke had just finished dressing for the day and was about to go and search for the others when he heard a knock on his door. He walked over and opened it to find Jade standing there. "Ah, good, you are ready." 

"Have you located the ruins then?"

"Interestingly enough, they are in the same direction we were planning on going today."

"So maybe I'm not crazy or sick after all"

"That still remains to be seen. Let's go before Anise comes in to find us, you know how she can be."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jade." Luke grumbled.

"Anytime."

Once Luke and Jade met up with the others, they all left the oasis and headed towards the eastern part of the desert where the ruins were said to be. It was a long and tiring, not to mention dusty, journey through the almost unbearable desert heat. It took most of the day, but they reached the ruins quite tired.

The ruins actually resembled a small village of sorts. It was rundown and abandoned but there remained evidence of people having lived there in the past. There was also evidence that the ruins were actually much larger than they appeared from the outside. Things like partially concealed openings made it appear like the ruins had been buried over many years of being in the desert, and that perhaps they had been built in a time before the area had become the desert it is now.

"Wow! This place may be as old as Yulia! That's so neat!" Anise exclaimed.

"Let's go inside. It's likely cooler in there than it is out here." Tear suggested.

"Yeah. I'm totally exhausted from this immense heat and I'm not even wearing the heavy uniforms you guys are. The shade sounds wonderful." Luke agreed.

"Of course the Colonel doesn't seem to be bothered by this heat one bit. It's so unfair!" Anise complained.

"He must be cold-blooded, so he actually enjoys the heat." Luke jokingly commented.

"Perhaps I am." Jade remarked with a straight face.

"How can he say things like that with a straight face! It's creepy!" Luke exclaimed.

"Let's go you two. We need to find the Fon Master." Tear reminded them.

Once they entered the ruins, they discovered that they had no troubles being able to see in the dim light within. There was just enough light that no other source was needed, much to Mieu's disappointment, as he was hoping to be useful in providing light. The only concern they had was the falling sand. There wasn't much of it, but enough came down to potentially hurt them if they weren't careful. At least there was no concern over being buried.

They descended down a very long spiral staircase led to the bottom of what seemed to be an entrance area to the rest of the ruins. Mieu decided to hop up on his Master's shoulder to make the long walk easier. After all, this was likely the smallest part of a very long trip.

Mieu eventually discovered he could take shelter from the falling sand by hiding in Luke's hair. The end result was Luke with Mieu's ears coming from his neck, which caused Anise to suddenly burst out laughing.

"What's so funny, Anise?" Luke asked.

Tear tried to hide laughter from behind her hand also. It just looked so funny, and cute, with Mieu's ears sticking out of his hair like that.

"If only you could see yourself now, Luke!" Anise exclaimed.

"It seems Mieu rather likes your hair, Luke. I have to wonder if Anise might be wishing she was a cheagle at this moment." Jade mentioned.

"I am not!" Anise exclaimed.

"Anise, admit it, you would love to touch it." Jade told the girl. "Tear likely would also."

"No way!" Anise denied, Tear felt her face grow slightly hot.

Luke attempted to remove the cheagle from within his hair, but Mieu had succeeded in getting tangled in the thick crimson strands. Mieu tried to help detangle himself, but that got him even more tangled up. Tear came up behind Luke, "Here, let me help you so poor Mieu doesn't get hurt." She eventually managed to work the small cheagle out of the tangle he found himself in. Mieu then hopped onto Tear's shoulder while she proceeded to try and gently remove the tangles from his hair.

"Well, it seems Tear rather likes long hair on men." Jade commented, causing Tear to blush even brighter than she already was.

She quickly stopped what she was doing. "I was just getting rid of the tangles Mieu made, that's all."

"Look, can we move on now?" Luke asked impatiently. "I really am getting tired of these jokes at my expense."

He walked off ahead of the rest of them. "Colonel, he's right, we may have been a bit cruel to him." Tear mentioned once he was out of hearing.

"But you have to admit, his mind is not dwelling on the fact that he's away from home at this time."

"You might be right, but is that worth upsetting him?" Tear pointed out. "I think we should all apologize."

"Wait, only the Colonel made jokes about him." Anise mentioned.

"We let him though, and should we be letting him wander off right now?" Tear pointed out.

"Tear, why don't you go after him, he likely would listen if you apologized on the behalf of all of us." Jade suggested.

"You just don't want to say it yourself, do you Colonel?"

"I hate admitting I was wrong." Jade admitted hesitantly.

"Fine, I'll tell him."

-----

Tear found Luke at the bottom of the stairs they had been walking down. He was sitting slightly off the path they would have walked; but it seemed mostly to be to avoid falling sand though. He appeared to be deep in thought.

"Might you be willing to accept an apology from all of us, Luke?" A voice said from behind him.

Luke was startled by the sudden noise. "Tear, how long have you been there?"

"I just got here. Anyway, will you forgive us?"

"If you guys can forgive me for getting upset over something so dumb. Now that I think about it, I realize what you guys were doing. You were trying to stop me from dwelling on the bad. I do appreciate the thought."

"But it didn't work, did it?"

"No, it likely would have if my being away from home was the only thing."

"What else is bothering you then?"

"The strange dreams, that last one wasn't the first. That and I have this unbearable feeling that something very bad will happen, and soon."

"You know that we will do our best to keep you safe, right?"

"I know that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling this way."

"You shouldn't worry though."

"I can't help it."

"Worrying won't stop anything bad from happening. It will just cloud your thinking and then something bad will happen to you."

"You're right. I just wish my heart would accept that, my brain definitely understands."

"Don't think about it. Think about finding Ion for now, maybe that will give the answer for you to that dream you had."

He nodded. "You're right. Thinking about something else will likely help."

"That is what I think the Colonel was trying to do, so please don't be upset at him for going about it the wrong way."

"I'm not. I actually appreciate the gesture."

"Come on, let's go find the others now."

-----

They finally reached the bottom of the stars and went through the large door they found there. The area it led to appeared to be an underground city, albeit an abandoned city, as the condition of it showed, through the obvious neglect of the whole area. The buildings were in serious disrepair, the paths cluttered with rocks and debris. It was evident that this place had been abandoned for many years, if not centuries.

The excessive clutter and debris on the path made it very difficult to travel. At one point, they even had to go back the way they came, due to large boulders that couldn't be moved or climbed over.

They followed the path after turning around and came upon a dead end, and much to their dismay, there was no other path to take this time. They could, however, see something at the end that appeared like a glowing rock floating in the air.

"Fonons!" Mieu exclaimed. "Tear, let me down!"

Tear put the tiny squirming cheagle down who then eagerly bounced towards the glowing object and then found himself within it.

"What is he doing?" Luke asked as he watched the cheagle standing among the fonons.

"I have no idea." Tear remarked.

"The elder said fonons make the Sorcerer's Ring more powerful!" Mieu exclaimed. Soon after, the glowing group of fonons disappeared.

"What happened?" Tear asked.

Mieu started bouncing around happily. "I feel more powerful now!" He tried breathing fire, but there was no change in the flame itself.

"Hmm, that appeared to be the second fonon, not the fifth." Jade commented. "Mieu, try concentrating and see what happens when you jump on those rocks over there." He suggested, motioning towards a set of boulders off the path itself.

"Yes, sir!" Mieu responded. He bounced over to the pile of boulders, stopped a moment, then jumped higher than he had before onto the pile. When he landed on them, they not only broke, but shattered into tiny particles of rock and dust.

"Wow! That's awesome, Mieu!" Anise exclaimed upon seeing the rocks shatter.

"That would indeed be a useful ability. Does it hurt to do that, Mieu?" Tear asked the small cheagle.

"Not one bit! I feel like I could do it again and again and never get tired!" Mieu happily told them.

"Mieu, might I see the Sorcerer's ring?" Jade asked.

"Sure!" Mieu answered happily. He bounced over to Jade and handed the ring to the Malkuth Colonel who examined it closely.

"Interesting, there seems to be a new fon verse on the ring. It appears as if the fonons caused this verse to be engraved upon the ring." He handed the ring back to Mieu. "That must be the source of the powers the ring gives to Mieu. One of them did appear to be worn, however."

"Why don't we go back to the path that was blocked earlier?" Tear suggested.

"Yeah! Mieu can break those boulders now and we can find Ion!" Anise squealed happily.

-----

The group continued to travel down the long path until they reached what had appeared to be a temple of sorts, perhaps. They could see Ion there, he was standing with someone who appeared to be a God-General from his distinct black and red uniform that was very similar to the other two standing nearby.

They definitely recognized one of the God-Generals standing nearby, it was the large man called Largo the Black Lion who Jade had defeated aboard the Tartarus, fully recovered from the attack now. Another God-General was also standing nearby, this one they did not recognize. He had green hair spiked upwards, but the rest of his face was covered by a colorful mask. His uniform was different from the other two's uniforms, instead of being red and black, it was black and green. There were also some interesting decorations on it that they could not identify.

The third one standing near Ion was more like the smaller one with green hair, in that he only appeared to be a bit taller than the other and his uniform was simpler than Largo's, but more like the second one's in that it did not have insignia, but it lacked the extra decorations the other one had. Both of their uniforms appeared to be made to allow for quick movement, which made sense since they were both smaller men and likely had to depend on being able to move faster. The green haired one had no weapon, but the one by Ion did have a sword strapped to his left hip.

Strangely, they could not identify anything else about the one standing with Ion. His hair was completely covered, and his back was to them, but even if he had turned around, they still would not be able to tell anything about him, as his face was also covered.

Luke felt something strangely familiar about the God-General standing with Ion. He couldn't place what it was that gave him this feeling. He knew he hadn't met this God-General before.

Largo and his smaller companion moved to block the path towards Ion as the group got closer and also blocked what view they even had of the third God-General and the Fon Master. "If you wish to interrupt them, you will have to get through us." The large man told them.

"Sync, Largo, what are you doing here?" Anise asked them.

"None of your business." The younger God-General, who must be Sync, answered.

"Give Ion back to us!" Anise declared.

"We can't do that. Interrupting the ritual could very well harm the Fon Master. Is that what you want, Fon Master Guardian?" The green haired boy asked her.

"No, but I can't leave Ion to you!" She exclaimed.

"Then it appears we will have to solve this by force." Largo declared. "The stronger of us will leave with the Fon Master. Two against four should be even enough odds for us. Do you agree to that, Fon Master Guardian?"

"Should be easy. Jade almost killed you right after having his fon slots sealed." Luke laughed.

The larger man laughed heartily. "Don't underestimate us. I won't make the same mistake again." He said as he readied his giant scythe for battle.

The rest of them got their weapons ready. "I won't go easy on you either." The one called Sync told them as he got into a battle stance. "Prepare to die!"

The other God-General turned around upon hearing Sync's words. The group then noticed that even facing them, his face was not at all visible to them. It was amazing just how like Sync he was, but he revealed even less than Sync did, as they couldn't even see a strand of hair to give them a clue as to anything about his appearance. All they could tell was that the figure was definitely male.

"Don't forget our orders. The Sacred Flame and the Commandant's sister are to remain unharmed." He told the other two.

"There is much we can do without harming those two. Our orders also say nothing about the others."

Where had Luke heard that voice from? He knew he recognized Sync's voice from St. Binah, but the other he could not at all place where he had heard that voice from before. It sounded so familiar, but at the same time, he knew he had never heard it.

He ran out of time to think about it, as Largo and Sync came at them to attack. Sync was incredibly fast compared to Largo, so they knew right away that he would have to be their first target. They could easily avoid Largo's attacks while concentrating on Sync, but Sync's attacks required a great deal of concentration to dodge well.

_Luke, stay out of this. You will get hurt if you continue. Their orders may say otherwise, but they are known to break them if the situation declares. They could always claim it was an accident._ A voice suddenly spoke to him within his mind. He recognized that voice right away. It was Kiran, how could he be speaking to him now?

_Don't ask questions, watch out_! Luke suddenly heard. He moved quickly to dodge the attack Sync was about to do on him.

He realized he was going to have to ignore the voice, even though he had to admit that warning was very helpful, and he was indeed curious and wanting to ask Kiran a million questions in hopes that he might actually answer one. But Kiran was right, now was not the time to ask questions. Sync was much stronger than anyone he had ever fought before, and before he didn't do very well at all.

Sync and Largo were appearing to be following their orders and concentrating their attacks more on Anise and Jade, rather than Luke and Tear. They didn't ignore Luke and Tear however and allow them to get easy hits on them. Sync was so fast that he could easily keep Luke and Tear both very busy dodging his attacks while he tried to take out Jade and Anise.

Suddenly, Luke found himself unable to move his body. He was confused as to what was happening to him, as he hadn't been hit by anything that Sync used on him, but yet he could not move even in the slightest. Then as suddenly as the feeling of inability to move came upon him, it vanished. Now he couldn't even remain standing as his muscles felt more like they were made of liquid and wouldn't support him. He tried to balance himself, but his body wouldn't respond to anything he tried to do. He fell into a heap onto the ground.

"Luke!" Tear yelled. "How could he go down so fast, he wasn't even hit!" She started chanting a healing arte.

_Use your power to dislodge some rocks when I tell you to. It will end the battle. You can trust me now, right?_

Kiran was right, he had proven himself trustworthy, Ion was where Kiran said he would be. But why was Kiran helping him now at this time?

_I can't explain now, but I promise to explain to you someday when we have more time. Just trust me again to look out for you. If this goes on much longer, you will get hurt._

He wished he could answer Kiran right now, but had no idea how to. There was so much he wanted to say to the boy.

_Say the words in your head, I will hear them instead of the thoughts you keep projecting to me._

He tried that out. _So can you hear this?_

_Loud and clear. You're catching on fast. Now get ready for my signal, gather your power._

Luke focused himself on gathering the Seventh Fonons in the area. Then all of a sudden as he had gathered enough to create a hyperresonance, he lost control of it. A set of rocks above where Largo and Sync were now standing came crashing down on top of them and narrowly missed the others. Luke felt his eyes close, he was tired from using his power again.

_Sorry, Luke. I had to control you for a moment to get the timing right._

_Control me? What do you mean?_

_I can't explain. I won't do it again though, unless it's to prevent you from getting hurt._

The third God-General who had been just watching the whole thing stepped away from Ion to go help the other two out of the pile of rocks that fell on top of them. "Go ahead. You have won for now. Take the Fon Master with you and leave now." He declared to them menacingly.

"Wait, who are you?" Jade asked the God-General.

"That is not something you need to know. You should take care of your friend down there. Take the Fon Master and leave now before I bury us all!"

"Jade, let's go. He won't hesitate to do it." Ion told them. "Tear, could you help Luke?"

Tear saw Luke lying on the ground nearby. He appeared to be asleep. So it must have been him that caused the rocks to fall. That was indeed a useful power, but it had a high cost for him to use it. She bent down beside him. "Luke, wake up. Please. You don't want Anise to drench you, do you?" She pleaded.

_Luke, you have to go. Once Sync and _ _Largo__ get free, they will not be pleased. _

Luke's eyes opened. "Thank goodness. Can you stand? We really have to go now, but we have the Fon Master now." Tear told him.

He tried to stand, he was a bit wobbly on his feet, but able to stand on his own. "I think I'm fine."

"Stay close to me, just in case, ok?" She requested.

They left the mysterious God-General to his own devices in digging out his companions and left the ruins to head for Chesedonia.

Luke just wished he could put together what was so familiar about the other God-General.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 


	16. Revelations on the Long Road

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less..

And no questions really to answer this time since most everyone kept their predictions to themselves. I am glad to see you guys are trying to guess what I am going to pull though, it makes me feel good to know that I have written something so good that you would care to try and guess. But I would love to hear predictions, feel free to PM them to me if you don't want to say them in a review. Amazingly, some of what I have seen so far is pretty close.

In good news, next chapter is the one that everyone has been waiting for, Akzeriuth. It's actually finished and just needing edits, but I am not posting it until 18 is done and awaiting edits. I would like to keep my time in hiding to a minimum. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Luke found himself lying down within a darkened field of grass, the same as the one he ended up in the last time he had this dream. He was confused though, how did he get here right from the start? Last time he had to venture through the wall first, and yet he could see the wall off in the distance. 

He was about to sit up and look around more, as he expected Kiran to show up at any moment now, when a light appeared above him, almost blinding him. "I think it was the connection I opened between us that did it to answer your question."

Luke was startled by Kiran's sudden appearance, not to mention the fact that he knew what Luke was going to ask before he could ask it. That connection between them was just weird. "Then you don't know for sure?" he inquired of the boy.

"I am still learning the full extent of my power. That was the first time I had used that particular ability." The strange red haired boy answered him.

"So why me? Why am I so special that you would use your abilities on me?"

"I cannot say."

"You know Kiran, your habit of not answering questions is really getting on my nerves. If you won't answer a question, why bother talking to me? Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"I do not wish you harm, Luke. I would never use my power to harm you."

"How can I believe you don't wish me harm when your associates do wish me harm? You are a God-General, right?"

Kiran hesitated just the slightest before he answered, "Yes, I am."

"After the way they have treated me, I find I can't trust that you won't hurt me as well. Your associates proved that they are insane and willing to go to any limits to hurt me as long as I remain alive, since your orders seem to say I cannot die. Your abilities are honestly scarier than theirs are. How do I know you won't use them against me someday? Please, just leave me alone."

He turned to walk away from Luke, "You won't have to worry. I can't use my abilities if I am no longer among the living, and I don't have much longer to live. If you wish to never see me again, I will respect that. Goodbye, Luke." He started to walk away from Luke.

Luke quickly stood up and grabbed Kiran's arm before he could get away. "Wait!"

Kiran turned his head towards Luke, he didn't even try to escape Luke's grip, "What now? You made your wishes known already."

"Why didn't you mention you were dying?"

"I don't want your pity, Luke. I just wanted someone who would treat me normally, like a person. It was a nice change while it lasted."

Luke thought over Kiran's words. Was that really the reason behind this? A lonely boy with strange abilities reaching out to someone else who might understand him? He knew one thing, if a dying wish could be fulfilled, he should do what he could to grant such a simple wish. "If that's all, I'll give you that. You helped me out, even if how you did it bothered me, I still owe you for the help. The least I can do is grant your last request."

"Can you forget how I controlled you to aid you then?"

"I doubt I can forget, but I can forgive you for it. Your intentions were good, if your actions were not. I'm sorry I got upset, I should know better. Can you forgive me for that?"

"I can."

Luke released Kiran's arm now that he knew the boy wouldn't leave. Now that he understood him better, it was easier to deal with his strangeness. If only he would answer a direct question, as Luke was indeed curious about what sort of life made him like this. "Kiran, if I asked you something, would you give me a straight answer?"

"Luke, I cannot answer all your questions. There is much I have orders not to speak of. If your question is not covered by my orders, I will answer it to the best of my ability."

"Were you at the Zao Ruins?"

"I was."

"Did I see you?"

"You did and you didn't."

"What sort of answer is that, Kiran?"

"I am not permitted to show myself to others. So it is the truth, you saw me, but you couldn't see me. Would you ask if you had?"

Kiran had him there, he wouldn't ask if he had seen the boy's face, unless it was different from the one he showed here. His visage here likely was an illusion of some sort also, since he is not permitted to show himself. "That is real harsh though."

"It is for my protection that I have to follow such orders. I am not permitted to show my real appearance. I am not exactly the only one among us under such orders as you have seen."

"Now I have to wonder if you look hideous or something, that would indeed explain it."

"No, I am not hideous." Kiran actually laughed in response. "Someday you will get to see my true appearance. I don't know though if you will like what you see, you may indeed consider it hideous."

"Why can't you show yourself now?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Then I will look forward to that day. Honestly, now that I know you a bit better, you aren't that bad, just a bit odd. Of course, I don't have room to talk about being normal."

"Compared to me, you are very normal, Luke. Why would you say otherwise?"

"As of late, my life has been far from normal. I never thought I would actually find myself wanting a normal boring life, but now I do. I'm tired of excitement as it just seems to hurt me and those I care about."

"Excitement? What sort?"

"Kiran, you aren't the only one of us with weird abilities. Mine caused me to be blown from the manor to Tataroo Valley within a matter of moments."

"Are you afraid it will happen again or something?"

"Maybe a bit."

"Luke, why are you so afraid of what you cannot control? It has to eat away at you inside to feel that way. Why not just deal with things as they come one day at a time?"

"Until such things started happening to me, I didn't fear that which I could not control in some way. At least I had control over the safety of my family, and myself when traveling. But as of late, I don't have control over my power."

"But you got home safely. If it happens again, wouldn't you do your utmost to return as quickly as you could? That is all you can do."

"Does anyone depend on you? There are many who depend on my being around. I cannot be disappearing all the time."

"No one would miss me if I were to disappear."

"Not even your associates, the other God-Generals, or your Commandant?"

"I can be replaced, and I will be when I am gone."

"I'm sorry, Kiran, I didn't mean to bring that up. I could not imagine living such a life though. No wonder you sought out someone like yourself with your powers. You must have led a very lonely life."

"If you wish to think of it that way, go right ahead. Shouldn't you be going back before your friends worry about you?"

"I still have time before they will wake up. Will I ever see you again like this?"

"Not likely. There is very little time remaining to me."

"If you don't mind me asking, how long do you have?"

"A few more days at most."

"That's horrible! And you don't even seem that much older than me. That's terrible, no one should have to die so young."

"I am not even as old as you."

"And nothing can be done?"

"If it could, it would have, don't you think?"

"Sorry, Kiran, I didn't mean to make you feel bad. Truly, I can't believe you can accept it so easily."

"I have known for some time now. That gave me time to accept my fate, and I have. I'm glad I got to know you though, Luke. I hope you have a long and happy life."

"I will, if I can help it."

Kiran smiled at him. "I am sure you will. Don't let the bad get you down. You should go now, don't worry about me, I will be fine."

Luke hugged the boy. Kiran seemed so lonely that he doubted he had ever been hugged, and if Kiran's confused expression was any evidence, he was right about it. "No one should have to go through life without someone showing they care. Now you won't either."

"Is that what this is for?"

"You truly have never had someone even hug you? It's just a friendly gesture between friends and loved ones."

"It's actually, kind of, nice. So you consider me a friend then?"

"I do. You aren't such a bad guy after all. And you are wrong about no one missing you. I will miss you."

Kiran imitated Luke's action and hugged him in return, which caused Luke to smile. "Thanks Luke. You have shown me something important. Now you better go back to your friends."

Kiran let go of him and Luke felt himself pulled away. He then was thrown through the wall and back into the grassy field lit by the sun.

He didn't see the tears steam down Kiran's face as he left.

-----

Luke woke up in his cabin aboard the ferry to Kaitzur Port. He could see the faint rays of light that signaled the coming day streaming through the small window in the room. While he felt warmth from those rays of sun, he could also feel a wetness on his face that reminded him of the sadness of that dream he had, it made for a very interesting contrast.

Were those tears for Kiran? It was so strange that he could care so much for someone he had just met recently, but he did feel a strange kinship with the boy. It was nice to speak with someone who could understand one part of your life that no one else did, having strange powers that no one understands. It was indeed sad that Kiran had very little time left to live. He would have liked to get to know Kiran much better.

The sound of the door opening interrupted his thoughts. He quickly wiped away the tears in his eyes before anyone could see. "Luke, good, you're awake already." Tear stood in the doorway. "Did you sleep well?"

"If you mean did I have any strange dreams, yeah, I saw Kiran again."

"What did he have to say this time?"

"He was the third God-General we met at the ruins."

"I thought so. I had never seen that uniform before, and Anise didn't recognize it either. I wonder why he would help us?"

"I got the impression that he isn't like the others and they don't treat him well because of it."

"Why do you say that?"

"I don't know, it's just the impression I got from how he acts."

"Are you okay, Luke?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Your eyes look red, like you were crying or something."

"Something must have gotten into my eye."

Tear smiled, men were so like that. "You don't have to pretend. It's okay to miss your family, we all know you do. We are almost to Akzeriuth though, so hopefully you will be able to go home soon."

"You're right, but I wasn't pretending. I woke up like this."

Tear could tell he was hiding something; he wasn't a very good liar. She didn't want to badger him with questions, since he was a friend. If he didn't want to talk about it, she would respect that and hope that he would share his feelings later. "Anyway, we are about to arrive in Kaitzur. Since everyone got some rest on the ferry, we are going to set off for Akzeriuth once we arrive. Meet us topside when you are ready."

"I will. Thanks for coming to check on me, Tear."

"Anytime."

She left him in the cabin to get prepared for the day which promised to be a long one if they were going to try to reach Akzeriuth that day. Despite the time it took to find Ion, they had been making very good time. Regardless it would be very difficult to reach Akzeriuth that day since they had to go over a difficult mountain pass that wasn't in very good repair. But even if they didn't reach it today, it would be soon, and then he could help the citizens and get back. He did want to be of help, but just really hated the timing of this, as he also hated having to leave Natalia. Natalia would be so happy though when he got home. He just hoped the baby didn't decide to make an early appearance while he was gone.

He quickly got dressed in some comfortable clothes. He knew the mountain air would be cold when they got closer to it, so he made sure to also put on a light jacket.

He looked around the cabin to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything and saw Mieu still napping on his bed. Remembering that he had gotten some food for the small cheagle before they reached the desert, he took some of it out of his pack and laid it next to the cheagle in hopes of waking him up.

His plan worked like a charm. The fragrant grass woke the cheagle up right away and he bounced awake, as odd as that sounded, to eat it. "Thanks Master!" The small cheagle exclaimed in between bites.

"We have to get going soon, the ship is going to arrive in Kaitzur any moment."

"I'm almost done!" Mieu quickly finished off the last of the meal Luke had kindly provided. Seeing the happy expression he had, Luke was glad he thought of it before. It seemed the food on the ship meant for his group wasn't as much to the cheagle's liking, though he was happy to munch away on grass and mushrooms. "I'm done eating, Master. Let's go find Tear and Anise!"

It was nice to see the little cheagle so happy, but did his voice have to rise up making it even more high pitched and annoying? He kept his thoughts to himself, as the cheagle didn't deserve to have Luke's frustrations taken out on him. It definitely was not Mieu's fault his voice was annoying and that Luke was getting more and more frustrated with everything that was going on. Kiran was indeed right though, he should try to not be bothered by that which he couldn't control. All he could do was do his best to get things back to the way they should be. The best thing to do would be to get to the deck so they could leave. The quicker they left, the quicker he would get back to Natalia.

He picked up the tiny cheagle and placed him on his shoulder. If Mieu had to be carried, that was his favorite spot to perch, because he got a good view that way. He then walked up to the deck to meet up with the others.

Soon after his arrival on deck, the ferry arrived in Kaitzur Port. He was indeed relieved that this leg was over now, as it put them very close to Akzeriuth now. All that remained was the old mountain road, Deo Pass.

-----

They arrived at Deo Pass in the afternoon. The sun had not yet begun to set, so they continued onwards. The path was not an easy one to travel, but it turned out to be more difficult than they had thought, especially for the Fon Master. The day was nearing an end anyhow, so they started to be on the lookout for a place to camp in the pass.

About halfway through, they found an ideal place to camp. It was a secluded area under an outcropping of rocks that would provide great shelter if needed. The privacy of the site was the most important feature though.

Anise was sent off to gather materials to make a small fire. Tear gathered materials up to cook something to eat once Anise returned and the fire was made. No one seemed to trust Jade anywhere near food, besides eating his portion, so the smart man got out of cooking yet again. That left him some time to have a word with Luke as he had been wanting to all day. He walked over to Luke and asked him if they could speak in private.

They walked a short distance away from the camp site back towards the path. Now that they were far enough away from the camp site to not be overheard, Jade could ask what had been on his mind. "Luke, can you tell me more about these dreams of yours?"

"You mean the ones with the supposed figment of my imagination?"

"Okay, I deserve that. We know now that isn't true, but yes, that is what I am asking about. Tear mentioned you saw him again last night. Is it correct that we met him in the Zao Ruins?"

"That is indeed correct."

"Can you tell me anything else? You did say his name was Kiran, correct?"

"Yes, his name is indeed Kiran at least that is what he said. It's strange, but when he appears in my dreams, he looks just like me, except for his uniform. He doesn't sound like me though, and he sounded different in the ruins also, but it is similar, I just didn't make the connection until later."

"How does he appear to you within the dreams? Is there anything in common about them?"

"There is always a field of grass that has a large black wall involved. Sometimes it is night, and sometimes it is day, but it is always a field."

"How many times has he appeared and when?"

"Three times. The first time was aboard the ship from Kaitzur when Dist came. The second was after we left."

"You never did mention the first time, why?"

"It didn't seem important then."

"What time of day was it each of these times"

"The first time it was day, the second started as day and went to night. The last one was entirely night."

"Hmm, that could perhaps correspond with the time of day in the real world. Has he given any further information of use to us?"

Luke thought a moment on this. He wasn't sure if he should mention to Jade about hearing Kiran in the ruins and how Kiran controlled his actions. The young God-General did promise he would not do that again, and considering what else he mentioned about his shortened lifespan, it didn't seem important to mention, he doubted the issue would come up in the next few days. "Not really. He said I would get to see his real face soon enough and that was about all. He really doesn't like answering questions about himself."

"So what you saw in the dream wasn't his real identity then? Interesting. Are you sure there was nothing else?"

"I am sure. I told Tear and Anise everything else I knew."

"Well, I can't force you to talk about it if you prefer not to. It may be important, so if you think of anything else, tell me right away."

He really hated lying to Jade, but he also didn't feel comfortable with sharing the rest, since it seemed like breaking a confidence. "I will, Jade."

"Now, will you tell me why you used your power in the ruins?"

"You knew about that?"

"Yes, it was the only explanation as to what happened and your condition also was another clue."

"But it did work well, right?"

"Almost too well. Be more careful in the future, Luke." Jade requested. "There is very little known about hyperresonance, and you are a special case as it is. Don't use that power of yours unless you absolutely have to."

"I'll be more careful."

"Good. Let's go back. From the smell of it, it seems Tear has finished dinner."

They went back to the others. The food was indeed ready and smelled delicious. Tear had done a wonderful job preparing a simple but filling meal of beef curry. Everyone ate heartily of the meal, even the Fon Master. They were even further surprised by the fact that she had made a delicious dessert of cake for them also.

"Wow, Tear! You're such a good cook," Anise exclaimed. "You'll make a good wife someday."

Tear blushed a bit at Anise's comment. "Not anytime soon..."

"So there's no one special in your life?"

"No!"

"Anise, don't badger the poor girl. It's not like you have any prospects either." Jade admonished the younger girl.

"Boo. Tear should have tons of guys falling for her. She's so beautiful."

"N-no, I don't, and I am not!"

"Don't be so modest. You have the type of figure men love. You are also nice and a good cook. You will make a man very lucky and I can only hope that I will fill out like you."

"Anise, you still have years to worry about that." Jade admonished her again.

"So, Jade, are you married by chance?" Luke asked.

"No. Women tend to be put off by men like myself, and I am too set in my ways now."

"Or he'll fall for some cute young woman who isn't scared by his creepiness." Anise mentioned.

"I doubt it, Anise." Jade answered.

"Anise, leave the poor man alone. He doesn't need to be subjected to women claiming to have his best interests at heart." Ion told her.

Luke couldn't help but laugh at Ion's statement, which confused the boy. "I'm sorry, Ion. Putting 'poor man' in a sentence about Jade was just a bit too funny for some reason." That caused Anise to start giggling also.

"Ion's statement is true though. I am indeed poor enough to be spared Anise's affections. There is indeed something to be said for not being rich."

"Give it a few years. She'll change her mind and realize that money isn't everything." Ion told him.

"I don't like the Colonel like that!" Anise declared.

"She's right. We are merely friends, but that doesn't change the fact that I am glad to not be rich. Anyway, we should get some rest as I would like to make an early start." Jade told them.

-----

It was actually a peaceful night for everyone. Luke didn't have any strange dreams again, at least any that he could recall involving Kiran, and their rest had not been disturbed in any way. Everyone woke up with the dawn and they were able to set out on time. As long as there were no further delays, they should reach Akzeriuth that very day.

They made their way back to the path after they took care of the campsite. They continued along the path and were almost out of the mountains when they met up with a very familiar looking individual. It was a surprise to all of them. They had never expected to meet him again. Luke's former servant turned God-General who was supposed to be awaiting execution in Baticul was sitting above them. He had his sword drawn and visible, but he didn't appear like he was going to attack.

"How in the hell did you get away?" Luke yelled to him.

"You don't remember? You were the one who released me, Luke. For which I do thank you." His former servant explained.

"I did no such thing!" Luke yelled.

"Luke, stay calm." Tear warned him.

"And you even so kindly returned to me my family's sword that your father stole when he killed my family." The blonde God-General further explained as he stroked a finger lovingly across the sword he was holding. Luke did recognize the sword. He had seen it every time that he went into the main hall of the manor. He even could recall when he was younger and his father explained that the sword was won in a battle during the Hod War.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asked trying to remain calm, but with his hand ready to draw his sword.

"Believe it or not, I come in peace this time. I was asked to deliver a message from Legretta since I was passing through the area. The message is for Tear. Legretta requests that you do not involve yourself in this mission and instead take your place with the Commandant. She will handle things with the Grand Maestro if you need it."

"Unless my brother decides to share his plans first, I will refuse again. I won't help him until I know what he plans. I will remain under the Grand Maestro's command." Tear answered.

A blue haired female appeared behind the other God-General. "We have to be going now, he's arrived."

"All right, let me finish delivering Legretta's message, Cantabile." He answered the woman. "Tear, I will deliver your response to Legretta. It's a shame though that you won't reconsider. But perhaps the Commandant can talk some sense into you before it's too late."

"Cantabile, why are you acting like this? What is your objective?" Tear asked the woman.

"Tear, you know we cannot answer that unless you are one of us, or the Commandant grants us permission to. Please consider Legretta's request. Neither Legretta nor I wish harm to come to our former student."

"But you don't seem to care what happens to others, do you?"

"Do you think we enjoy killing those who resist? We do what we have to do to better this world that is overly dependent on the Score."

"Cantabile, you know the Score is only one possible set of outcomes." Ion told her.

"Fon Master, you may think that, but those who consult the Score to know what to eat for dinner do not. If they are that dependent on the Score, what will happen when the Score predicts that a war will start?"

"That's why we are here, to stop a war from happening!" Luke declared.

"Luke, you don't know a thing. Hopefully you will be able to find out the truth one day."

"What do you mean?"

"Our orders won't say to not harm you forever. We may have come in peace today, but if you keep opposing us, we will do something about it. Anyway, we must be going. Don't expect our next meeting to be peaceful." Guy told them before he left with Cantabile.

"Tear, what were they talking about?" Luke asked his companion.

"My brother has been wanting me to transfer to his command and assist him in whatever he plans. I keep refusing because I don't trust that he has something good in mind."

"And that's why you attacked him?"

"Yes. I overheard something and thought I could stop him, but I was too weak and ended up involving you in our problems."

"Tear, what was it that you overheard?" Ion asked her.

"I am not even sure now I heard him right. I would prefer not to say until I am positive."

"Are you sure about that? I am willing to listen."

"Yes. I have to be sure of what I heard before I can bring it up with you, Fon Master."

"Then don't hesitate to come to me when you do find something out. I will listen to your words."

"Thank you, Fon Master."

"Well, shall we be going to Akzeriuth?" Jade remarked.

-----

They finally made their way through the mountains which left just a short journey to reach Akzeriuth. Along the way, no one mentioned further about the strange conversation they had before leaving the pass, but it was on Luke's mind the whole time. What did Guy mean when he said that Luke freed him? That was impossible, since he was still in Baticul when Luke and the others had left.

He couldn't come up with an answer for this, no matter how hard he thought about it. He would just have to remember to ask Guy about it the next time they met, if they had a chance to speak before fighting, as the next time looked like it would not be in the least bit friendly.

The closer they got to Akzeriuth, the more they started to notice the faint presence of the miasma in the area starting to waft into the air. Tear assured them that they had no worries, since miasma was only dangerous if breathed in over a long period of time, and they shouldn't have to spend a long time in Akzeriuth. That was why they were going to aid in evacuating the citizens, they couldn't stay here much longer unless the miasma was dealt with somehow.

By the time they finally arrived to the mining town, the air had taken on a purplish tinge as the miasma had indeed grown thick enough to be quite visible. It made even the pleasant day that it was today, appear as if it were either nearing nighttime or a storm was coming. The miasma had blocked out the sun.

The town itself reminded them a lot of Baticul in the shape and architecture. Like Baticul, it was built within a crater left by a fonstone. But unlike Baticul, the roads were not paved and the structures were more simplistic. The buildings they saw were all either residences or buildings for practical use, like shops and storehouses. They could also see many tunnels built into the sides of the crater that must be the numerous mines the town was famous for.

As they entered the town, a man approached them. "Ah! A man named Grants told us you'd be coming! My name's Pyrope. I'm the local supervisor for the mine here. The mayor fell ill. So I'm handling things in his place."

"Grants? Do you by chance mean Van Grants of the Oracle Knights?" Tear asked the man.

"Yes. He brought a team of Oracle Knights earlier today. He said they had been sent to provide you assistance. He and his soldiers are already within the mines working to help those who collapsed within the mines."

"Pyrope, thanks for the information. We'll go find the Oracle Knights and assist them with those who collapsed. Then we will assist with those in the city." Luke told him.

"Be careful, the miasma is thicker in the mines. Even with lanterns, it is difficult to see, and there are a few monsters lurking within to make things even more dangerous. The only tunnel in use at this time is tunnel 14. The entrance is on the bottom level, I can show you if you would like."

"We should be able to find it, but thanks for offering, Pyrope."

"No problem. And if you need them, there are rest facilities on the middle level. Your group is welcome to use them as needed during your stay. Thanks for coming to help us out."

They made their way to the lower level towards the tunnel. "Luke, don't you find it strange that Van is here? We weren't told anything about him being ordered to come here also." Tear asked while they walked.

"I do, but we won't know why until we can ask him." Luke answered her.

They reached the entrance of the mine tunnel and were met by an Oracle Knight. "My name is Hyman. I informed Grand Maestro Mohs about the Seventh Fonstone" the solider told them.

"The Seventh Fonstone? Then it has been found? That would explain why I was asked to come here." Tear exclaimed.

"We think so, but cannot be sure until we excavate it." Hyman told them.

"Tear, you should go and verify its authenticity. We can handle things here." Ion told her.

"All right, Fon Master. Where should I meet you?"

"We should still be within the tunnel." Ion told her.

"Then I will find you within the tunnel once I am done." Tear said as she left with Hyman.

The rest of them entered the tunnel to find the miners and the Commandant.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! 

And I usually prefer to keep most of the notes to the beginning, but there are some things I want to ask of my readers, likely anyone who also reads darkangel's fic knows that she and I are having a quandry on if we should split our fics up or not, as we are already at a rather large length (her more so than I am) and with the next chapter, it's about 25 of the game plot finished.

I am indeed debating on splitting this off to a second fic. If I do decide to do that, the next one will be clearly marked as a sequel and when the first chapter is posted, I will post two chapters, one being a summary of the first story and then the actual chapter, that way anyone new to it will at least know what is going on because there are indeed a lot of changes from the game now. If I decide to do this, 18 is looking like it may be a good point to stop before going on to another (Akzeriuth is the next chapter). But I would like to see opinions from all my wonderful readers as to if 60+ chapters would be too much (realize, as of now, it's 109 pages in my word document).

And now I am going to run off to make ready my hiding place for when I post 17.


	17. A Life Within the Darkness of Death

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

I want to give a big thanks to my wonderful beta darkangel for her help in making this even better and more emotional than I had originally written (which was enough that I was in tears, she made it even better).

* * *

Natalia slowly made her way to her father's personal chambers to bid him good night. She was feeling tired and decided to retire early. Hopefully it would go away; she had been feeling strange all day. She got to the chamber and was about to knock on the door when she heard voices within it. 

"Have you heard anything about Akzeriuth yet, Your Majesty?"

"Not a thing. I just wish it was over, waiting for the bad news is eating away at me."

Bad news? Natalia thought to herself. What bad news? Nothing happened to Luke, did it?

"Have you thought about what to tell the Princess yet, your Majesty? She'll be devastated by the news."

Natalia felt herself stiffen upon hearing those words. What news would upset her?

"Do you think I want to tell her the truth?" The king answered. "Would you want to tell your daughter that you sent the husband that she loves to his death?"

Unconsciously, Natalia gasped upon hearing those words. She could not believe what she heard. They sent Luke away knowing that he would die there? She felt tears come to her eyes that she could not stop. "No!" She exclaimed before she walked away as quickly as her condition would allow.

Inside, her cry could be heard. "Natalia! Wait!" Ingobert panicked as he ran out of the room after her. The last thing he wanted was for her to hear this now. He had planned to wait until after the child was born if he could, that way at least the child could help her through her grief.

He caught up with her just outside the main hall. "Natalia, please, calm down." He pleaded with her. She looked at him, and he could see the tears streaming down her face. If only she hadn't found out like that, she was supposed to find out in a much gentler manner.

"Leave me alone!" She cried. "You sent Luke away knowing that he wouldn't come back, how could you do that to me!"

"Natalia, I'm sorry you found out in that way. I didn't mean for you to hear it like that. Can you forgive me?"

Before she could answer, an unbearable pain came over her. Her knees felt like they were going to buckle at any moment, and send her crashing to the floor.

"Natalia, are you all right? Is it the baby?" He asked her worriedly.

She couldn't bring herself to answer through the pain, but then as quickly as it had come, it went away. "I'm fine now, Father, the pain passed."

"You should go back to your chamber, let me help you." He offered her his hand, which she gratefully accepted.

They walked back to her chamber, stopping once when the pain came back. As soon as they reached her chamber, he turned up the covers, "You should lie down. I will get the doctor here for you."

She stiffened from the pain that had returned once again. "Please do, Father. I think the baby is coming."

-----

With Tear gone, Luke, Anise, Ion and Jade continued deeper into the mines. They decided to split up, since they felt they could find all those who had collapsed within the mines quicker if they went in smaller groups. Anise went off with Ion and Jade went by himself, as did Luke.

What Luke didn't know, was that once they were out of his sight, they met up again. This time Anise accompanied Jade and Ion went to look for Luke. They didn't trust Van, and he had a strange interest in Luke. As Van's superior, perhaps Ion could do something to prevent Van from causing Luke any harm.

It was indeed difficult to find his way through. He could barely see a few steps in front of him. He held his hand out before him to prevent himself from running into a wall. The miasma was thick and its ability to drown out what little light did exist within the mine was not to be underestimated.

"Luke, it's a relief to see you and your group made it here all right." A voice ahead of him greeted him.

He recognized his master immediately, even if he couldn't quite make him out through the thick miasma yet. "Master Van! What are you doing here?"

The man came into his view. "The Order sent me along with a group of soldiers to assist in the evacuation. Could you lend me some assistance, Luke?"

"What's going on?"

"I need help rescuing a child who got stuck in a part of the mines. Your smaller size and lack of armor would be of benefit."

"A child? Take me there right away."

"I'll help also." Ion suggested from behind Luke, who didn't even realize that he had been there. Luke was indeed appreciative of his help; he wasn't especially fond of the idea of going off alone with Van in this place.

"If you wish it, Fon Master, your help would also be appreciated."

Van led his two assistants further into the mine. The miasma kept growing thicker, making it very difficult to see. This in turn seriously hindered their movement. So far they hadn't noticed any effects from breathing in the miasma, but with so much of it down here, it was likely only a matter of time.

The tunnel Van led them to turned out to be a dead end. They looked around for the supposed child who was in danger but could find no one in this tunnel.

"What's going on, Master? There is no child here." Luke questioned the man.

"Perhaps one of my men found the child and got him out."

"That makes sense, Luke. Why don't we see if anyone else needs any help then?" Ion suggested.

"As you wish, Fon Master." Van answered and started to walk off. "As far as I am aware, we haven't checked in this direction yet."

Luke and Ion followed the Oracle Knight's Commandant in looking for any others who may need help. They found no one in their search and were starting to wonder what was going on when they came upon a strange door.

"What's this door?" Luke asked.

"Hmmm," Van eyed the door from top to bottom, "I wonder if the miasma could be coming from inside? No one could see to find the source of the miasma, so it would make sense. We should go investigate."

"I don't know, there seems to be no need to open the door."

"Don't we owe it to the people to investigate, Fon Master? We just need to look for now, if we find something, then we can come up with a solution later, if we find nothing, we will leave it alone."

Ion wasn't fully convinced, he knew what this was. Still, if this could be the source of the miasma, and somehow the people could be saved by their investigating it, then he did owe the people to at least open the door so they could return to their homes in time. "All right, I will open it, if I have your promise to leave it and do nothing if we don't find anything to link this place to the miasma."

"You have my promise, Fon Master." Van smoothly agreed almost a bit too quickly.

Ion whispered a few words and a glyph appeared upon the door itself, opening the way deeper in. Luke could see Ion weaken on his feet, and managed to catch him as he fell.

"Are you all right, Fon Master?"

"Yes, I will be fine, Luke. Let's go inside and see if this is indeed the source of the miasma."

They walked inside to further investigate the area. Once inside, a fourth person entered the area, following them from enough of a distance so his presence would not be noted. At least, not until it was far too late.

-----

The area in which they entered upon opening the strange door was like nothing Luke had ever seen before. The area was far more technologically advanced than any place Luke had ever seen, and he had visited most of the cities upon Auldrant. Not only was the technology unlike any he had seen before, but the sheer beauty of it alone was amazing.

There were glowing glyphs everywhere: the floor, the walls, and in some places even floating in midair. The air itself was clear, not full of miasma like the mines that they had just come from, making it contrast all the more from the poisoned mines they had left.

"Fon Master, what is this place?" Luke asked Ion.

Ion hesitated in his response. This was one of the Order's most guarded secrets, and while he trusted Luke, it was not something Luke was supposed to know about. Van should not have brought him in here.

Van filled in Ion's silence. "It is a place that guards where the Sephiroth meet with the planet's crust." Ion breathed a sigh of relief at this response. It didn't give any secrets, but held enough of a grain of truth that it likely would satisfy the boy's curiosity.

"Then you think the miasma is coming from the Sephiroth, Master Van?" Luke asked.

"We won't know until we get to the center of this place where the Sephiroth is."

They continued to walk in silence. While the path to the center where the Sephiroth was at wasn't very long, they were slowed by the fact that Luke kept looking around in awe at the place. It couldn't be helped, even Ion found the place amazing. The technology used to built it was no longer in existence on Auldrant, lost along with the many other wonders of the Dawn Age.

When they finally reached the center, Luke knew this had to be the Sephiroth. Memory particles were floating upwards from the all the open areas, and along with all the glyphs, and the device he could see in the center, Luke found the place extremely beautiful.

"Van, I don't think this is the source of the miasma. The air is perfectly clear in this area." Ion mentioned.

"You're right, Fon Master. I just wanted to make sure though, as it would help the people if something could be done about the miasma in this area."

"Van, you shouldn't have brought Luke here."

"I know. Would you mind if I spoke with him for a few minutes about this? I want to make sure he knows that he has to keep this place a secret." Van explained.

Ion thought it over for a moment. He didn't like the idea of leaving Van alone with Luke, but he could at least watch from afar to make sure the boy didn't get hurt. "All right. Then we must leave this place as you promised."

"Of course, Fon Master." Van agreed.

Ion stepped backwards hesitantly. He didn't like this, but it had to be done. He made sure Luke and Van didn't leave his sight. But as soon as he had stepped out of an earshot, he heard a voice from behind him. "Fon Master, you are needed back in Daath. I have brought some soldiers to provide you escort."

"Sync! What are you doing here?" Ion exclaimed.

"Orders." The masked boy said as he stepped in front of Ion. He gave a signal to some soldiers behind Ion. "Go back to Daath with the Fon Master and remain there until you receive new orders from myself, Grand Maestro Mohs or the Commandant."

"Yes sir!" The soldiers answered. "Fon Master, please come with us. If you won't, we are ordered to use force if necessary."

"Fine, I'll go." Ion hesitantly agreed.

_Luke, please be okay..._

-----

"Luke, this is the last time I can ask you. Will you aid me with your powers?" Van asked the young noble.

"Why should I? You have given me no reason to trust you."

"Then perhaps it is indeed time for you to know some truths. You were read the Score before you left, Baticul, correct?"

"Yes. It said I would bring my people to the mining city. That must be here, but Tear couldn't read the rest of what happened."

"That was done on purpose. To tell you the rest of what the Score predicts for you would go against Yulia's teachings." Van informed him. "According to the teachings of Yulia, a Score of death should never be told. Simply put, you were sent here to die."

"That can't be possible! My uncle would never do such a thing!"

"He has to obey the Score. He had no choice but to, or else the Order would stop reading the Score for Baticul. Your father also knew about the Score's prediction, that's why he never cared about you. I cared enough about you to try and find a way for you to cheat death and still obey the Score. I have made a replacement for you. He will die in your place. In exchange, all you need to do is loan me your powers and join me."

"A-a replacement? How?"

"Kiran, come down here." Van said to the air above him. The mysterious young God-General Luke had met at the Zao Ruins appeared before him. "Kiran, remove your coverings. It is time that Luke saw who you really are."

Luke could hear a voice in his head as the boy removed the coverings on his face and hair. _Please don't hate me for this, Luke…_

Luke stood there shocked upon finally seeing Kiran face to face. He could not believe his eyes when he saw his own red hair pour down the boy's back. Green eyes, just like his, but with a hint of sadness within them stared back at him. Every other feature on the boy's face was like looking in a mirror, that was how closely he resembled Luke. The only difference was that he was wearing the uniform of a God-General.

"So Luke, what do you think of Kiran? He's your perfect replica. He even has the same powers as you do. If you will join me, he will take your place within the Score."

_That's what you meant by only having a few more days to live? That you were going to die in my place? Why didn't you tell me?!_

_Yes, that is what I meant. You didn't deserve that fate. Others depend on you, no one depends on me. I want you to have a long and happy life._

_No way! Both of us can live, we just have to leave this place! I won't let you die for me!_

_Don't! If you won't let me die for you, then you will have to take my place and fulfill your destiny as the Score has written._

"Have you made your decision, Luke? Will you join me and allow Kiran to take your place?"

"No way! I won't let either of us die! Kiran, let's leave this place now." Luke declared.

Kiran smiled at the fact that someone actually cared enough about him to save him from his fate. He knew all along that he was merely a tool made for this very moment, but Luke wouldn't accept that. "Luke..."

"Come on, Kiran. Let's get out of here before we both die." Luke told him as he held his hand out to his replica.

Kiran was about to take Luke's hand, but then his expression suddenly changed. Instead of the smile he had before, his expression looked like he was in pain. Luke could see a strange pattern appear on his arm in a reddish glowing color. Was that blood that appeared?

_No! _Luke could hear in his mind before he lost control of his actions. He could feel himself gathering Seventh Fonons from the Sephiroth to create a hyperresonance.

"That's it Kiran. You definitely are much more useful to me than your original is."

Luke wished he could do something. He couldn't believe that Van would willingly let both of them die like this, but there was nothing he could do. He had gathered up enough fonons for the strongest hyperresonance he had ever created. He then felt himself forced to unleash the hyperresonance upon the device in the middle of the Sephiroth.

"No, Luke! Don't do it!" He could hear Tear's voice yell from behind him. He couldn't do anything to stop himself. He was doing something to the device that was causing it to break apart.

As he was about to unleash the last of the power of his hyperresonance, he felt the ability to control his body again. Unfortunately, it was too late. He lost control of that last bit of power he had gathered. Rather than unleash it upon the device before him, it turned back on himself in a flash of light that consumed him.

"No, Luke! I'm sorry! It wasn't supposed to be you! It was supposed to be me! I didn't want you to die!" Kiran yelled. He started to run towards the flash of light that Luke was within.

Before he could move anywhere, Van took a hold of the young boy. Two monstrous birds appeared from above by Van. One could be seen above them holding the green haired God-General, Sync.

"Kiran, we must leave before the city falls." Van said to the boy.

"I won't go! I was supposed to die here, not Luke! Why do you do this?!" The boy cried as he fought to release himself from Van's grip.

Tear ran towards them. "Van, what have you done?!"

"Tear! You were supposed to be gone by now."

"I overheard your plans from your people and hoped to stop you."

"Tear! Help Luke, he needs you." The boy being held by Van yelled to her.

Tear hadn't noticed the boy before, or perhaps she had mistaken him for Luke, as it would be easy enough to do. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Before she could ask him who he was, Van forced him onto the birdlike monster which took off the moment the boy was on it. Van got onto the other one. "Tear, you know the fonic hymns, use them to save yourself!" Van called to her before he left the area.

"Tear, come over here, Luke needs you!" Anise could be heard yelling to her.

Tear looked over and saw Jade and Anise where the shining light that had enveloped Luke had been. Luke was lying on the ground not moving at all. "Luke, no! What happened to him?" She yelled as she ran over to them.

"I don't know. The last thing he said before he fainted was something about being forced to do it." Anise told her.

Tear bent down beside her friend. He wasn't breathing. His heart wouldn't beat. He didn't show any signs whatsoever of still being alive. His skin still felt warm, and she knew that sometimes if enough was done, a healing spell could reverse what was happening to him now. But she didn't have any time; he was slipping away from them fast.

She started chanting the strongest healing arte she knew, but the entire room started shaking, crumbling the ceiling above their heads. That must have been what Van had meant. No, this couldn't be happening! She needed more time to save Luke before he died! He had too much he had to live for. But time had run out. It wouldn't do any good to save him if they all died when the place fell in on top of them.

"Everyone, gather close." She yelled before she started to sing the second fonic hymn, creating a force field that would save them from the destruction of this place.

Tears slid down her cheeks as she finished singing the hymn that would save them all. She hoped a miracle would save Luke and them all, but knew deep in her heart that her friend was lost to her forever.

-----

"Princess, one more push and it will all be over, you can do it." The doctor assured her.

"I can't, so tired." She told him.

"Just this once, and then you can rest all you want. Your husband will be so pleased when he sees this child, remember?"

Luke...she did remember how much he was looking forward to this child. But he wouldn't be back to see it. It would be the last part of him she would ever have. She definitely wanted this child more than anything else, just so she could have part of him to love now that he was gone. She pushed as the doctor said.

"That's it!" The doctor praised her. "Oh, it's a beautiful baby girl! She looks just like her father too with that head of red hair." Suddenly she could hear a loud cry from her daughter. "And a healthy set of lungs too, that is a good sign since she is kind of small."

"Can I hold her?" She asked.

"Just let me get her cleaned up. You go ahead and relax, Princess, you did wonderfully and deserve some rest. Have you decided on a name for her?"

"Evelina Nadine. That is what we decided if we had a daughter."

"A beautiful name for a beautiful little girl. It means 'A life full of hope' in Ancient Ispanian."

A life full of hope. What a strange name for a fatherless girl, but it was what Luke had wanted. He was the one who insisted that she think of a name for a girl. She could feel tears coming to her eyes and could not stop them from falling.

"Here's your daughter, Princess. She is indeed very beautiful, isn't she?"

"Very, just like her father."

As she held her newborn daughter, she couldn't stop the tears from falling. This little girl deserved better than a fatherless existence, but she wouldn't be able to meet her father.

Not now.

Not ever.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated! And now I am going to run off and hide while I finish 18.  



	18. A Debt Repaid

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

I want to give a big thanks to those who gave reviews for 17, I so loved reading your reactions and it also gave me a good idea of what questions I needed to answer with this chapter, but you guys let me know that I did indeed accomplish what I intended with 17, creating something that can move readers. And now with this at least I can at last come out of hiding!

And again much love to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps me bring out the beauty of what I wrote. This wouldn't be nearly as good without her.

* * *

Kiran's fist pounded upon the black wall. No matter what he did, the wall remained solid, showing no signs of the translucence it once had. He could feel his fist along with his foot stinging with pain from how many times he had pounded upon this wall trying to get through it. Damn! Was it too late? No, it couldn't be. The wall still remained. If the connection was gone because Luke had died, the wall would have gone away with the connection. 

"Luke, please! Let me in!" Kiran pleaded. "I want to help you!"

Kiran felt the ground below him shake violently. Was this what happens when death breaks the connection between them? Or was it due to what had happened to Luke? He was so very afraid for Luke from the moment he was able to break Sync's control over them. He had hoped Luke would be able to keep the hyperresonance under control, but instead the absolute worst possibility had come to pass.

He may very well have caused his first and only friend to kill himself.

The ground started to shake again and this time Kiran lost his balance. He placed his hand onto the wall to help steady himself, when the wall finally chose to let him through. He landed with a thud onto the solid rock he found below him on the other side.

The landscape had changed drastically since the last time he was here. Everything around him was devoid of any sign of life. All he could see were brown rocks and dirt, rather than the lush green grass and clear sky that had once covered this area.

He looked around for Luke, but couldn't see him anywhere, only a large expanse of rocks and dirt. The ground was full of numerous cracks, as if it were breaking apart and the air was filled with dust as thick as the miasma had been in Akzerieuth. Like the miasma, the dust blocked what little light there was, as the sun was about to set.

Kiran could tell that he didn't have very much time remaining if he wanted to save Luke. If he was caught here, he would likely die with his friend. It was obvious to him that this drastic change was at least in part due to the fact that Luke was hurt and dying. He could only hope Tear understood his message and could buy him some time, as he would likely need it.

There was only one direction in which he could go. While that one direction had a lot of space to cover, he knew he didn't have time to cover it all. He just had to find Luke quickly. He decided to head in the direction of the setting sun, as it was likely Luke was in the place where the sun would finally set, and that the time remaining was most likely determined by the setting sun. When the sun was gone, Luke's time was over.

He had to hurry if he wanted to undo this.

-----

The sun was about to drop below the horizon and out of sight when Kiran finally found Luke. He was sitting at the edge of a cliff, his legs dangling over the edge. It would take very little for him to fall over the edge. The cliff edge was actually very unlike the rest of the area Kiran had gone through to get to here. Besides Luke himself, it actually had other sparse signs of life; in fact he could actually see a few blades of grass trying to peek through the hard ground.

Kiran carefully walked towards Luke, he didn't want to scare him and cause him to fall off the edge. He sat down next to the young noble who he was supposed to die for and looked towards him. He could not believe the changes wrought to his appearance by that one single action, they weren't physical, but the way he carried himself was different, it was obvious that he was feeling a strong sense of guilt even though he was forced into what he did. "Luke, I'm sorry." Kiran softly told him, trying not to startle the boy.

"Why? You will get to live now. You should go, as this place will disappear when the sun does and if you remain, you will die along with me."

"I won't leave unless you come with me."

"Why would you choose to die with me when you could have the chance to live that you didn't have before?"

"I wouldn't want to live knowing I caused the deaths of all the people of Akzeriuth, and most importantly, the one person who called me his friend. I don't want that guilt, so if you die, I will go with you."

"Don't let guilt stop you. You should go, and could you do me a favor when you do?"

"If it's within my power, but I won't go without you."

"Go to Baticul. Tell my wife that I'm sorry I couldn't come home to her, and that I wanted to be there with her to raise our son or daughter."

"You should tell her yourself. You do love her, right?"

"Very much so. I wish I didn't have to go."

"You don't have to! If you want to live, you can. Don't give up and you will be able to tell her how much you love her to her face."

"I can't fight this, the hyperresonance destroyed me, it is just a matter of time before this place disappears and I move on. But don't blame yourself, I was the one who lost control. You go live a long and happy life instead."

"If you were in my place, do you think you could live a long and happy life? And I didn't even have any more control over what I did than you had control over your actions. I can't live on with that sort of guilt!"

"How could you have been forced? You seemed willing enough to die for me?"

"Not long after I was created, it was thought that I may change my mind about my duty, so the Commandant had a Curse Slot placed on me so that when the time came, if need be, they could force me to do my duty."

"Then you didn't want to kill those people?"

"No! But I especially didn't want you to die. If the people of Akzerieuth had to die, I would rather it have been by my hand than yours."

"Then there is something for you to live for. Stop Van however you have to. I'm sure my friends would help you after what happened. Consider that my last request."

"How many times do I need to tell you? If you are so set to die, I am going with you."

"I would rest easier knowing that Van would not go unpunished for what he did to us."

"And I would need your help to do it. So are you coming or not?"

"I told you I can't."

"So you are just giving up. Why would you do that? Don't you care about those who depend on you? So many will grieve for you. The only one who would grieve for me is sitting next to me now. But if you won't give up, I will give living a chance."

"You would?"

"Only if you help me. I won't live life alone anymore now that I have known you."

Luke appeared to think his words over. "Fine. If you will give it a try, the least I could do is try myself. I make no guarantees, but I will come with you."

Kiran stood up and held his hand out for Luke. "Here, let me help you up so you don't fall."

Luke took his hand and Kiran pulled him away from the edge. The moment Luke stepped away, the edge crumbled sending the rock on which they had just been sitting, tumbling down into an endless black abyss. Kiran was shocked by how close they both came to falling with it.

"Kiran, thanks for caring about me."

"We're even now. You saved my life and I will never forget that. Thanks for caring about me enough to risk your own life doing so." Kiran hugged his original, over his shoulder he could see that the sun had gone back to the way it was the last time he was here. The light was still blocked by dust, but at least the sun would not set anytime soon.

It was a start.

-----

Tear's eyes opened. She looked around at her surroundings and saw nothing besides miasma and broken rocks. She had no idea where she could be now. The last she remembered was singing as the room they were in was falling in upon them.

Then it all came back to her. Her brother had planned to destroy Akzeriuth. She was trying to stop it, but was too late, all she could do was try to save her friends, except Luke, it had been too late for him. Was she even still alive, or did she join him?

You fainted from exhaustion." She heard a voice above her that belonged to the Colonel. Had he joined her in death, or did they indeed survive? No, they had to have survived. She somehow doubted the afterlife would be full of miasma. They must have survived the fall of the city and were in the Qliphoth now.

Slowly everything started to make more sense. She now remembered the other boy who looked just like Luke being taken away from by her brother by force, and his concern for Luke. She remembered the light that enveloped Luke and then left him near death, if he hadn't already been gone.

"Is Luke..." she asked the question she dreaded the answer to. She knew Luke couldn't still be alive, not after that, but wouldn't believe it until she heard a confirmation.

"While you were singing the hymn, I tried an abnormal procedure that had a chance to save him. Anise and I were about to give up when he started breathing on his own again. He had yet to awaken, but he is alive."

Tear breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad he's okay. I was so worried that we were too late."

"Tear, he is alive, but far from being well. We have no idea what happened to him when that light engulfed him. For all we know, I may have only prolonged his eventual death."

"No!" Tear sobbed.

"We will have to wait and see. For now, we need to leave before this place disappears also. It seems the Oracle Knights were kind enough to leave the Tartarus for us. It appears to still be in working order."

"We should go east. There is a place called Yulia City there. We can plan how to get back then."

" Yulia City?"

"I will explain when we get there. We should go now."

-----

Someone could be heard on the deck of the Tartarus while they were on their way to Yulia City. With Jade was busy controlling the ship's movement and Anise who had offered to watch over Luke while she got some more rest, Tear was left as the only one to investigate who could have come on board.

She ran up to the deck with her staff ready, just in case. Who could this be? Very few knew of this place, and fewer still could get here, as no normal means of travel would get someone to this place. Could there perhaps have been some Oracle Knights who survived and were on this ship?

She looked around on the deck and at first saw nothing besides miasma and further beyond the mud and miasma that was the sea within the Qliphoth. Then he came into view. It was the boy she had seen in Akzeriuth that looked exactly like Luke, except for the uniform of a God-General that he was wearing. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She yelled to him.

"My name is Kiran. You are Tear, correct?"

Tear relaxed a bit. She remembered Luke having mentioned Kiran in the past, he had been the one who told them where to find Ion. But this boy had been taken away by her brother, how did he get here? "Yes, I am Tear. So what is one of my brother's God-Generals doing here in the Qliphoth? Should we be preparing for an attack?"

"No, I am alone and came on my own initiative. I wanted to check on Luke, is he okay?"

"And why should I tell you this?"

"Tear, I know all of that looked bad, and you likely think I am on your brother's side. I assure you I am not, not after what he did to us. I was forced to act as I did, and ended up hurting the one person I didn't want hurt."

"How could you have been forced to do anything, and what did you even do?"

"I was forced to take control of Luke's actions and cause him to create a hyperresonance to destroy the passage ring."

"What?! How could my brother do that to you?"

"He didn't. It was Sync the Tempest who controlled me. Did you see him there?"

She did recall seeing Sync, and had wondered what he had been doing there. As weird as this all seemed, it did sound somewhat plausible. She didn't completely trust him, but knew that it was unlikely that anyone would put blame on themselves when they were blameless, and he appeared stricken with guilt. "Can you by chance explain what that light was?"

"I am not sure, but I think when the control over me broke, Luke lost control of the hyperresonance. Since I wasn't controlling him anymore, the surprise of having control of his body back caused him to lose control . No matter what happened, I blame myself. The last thing I wanted was his death, it was supposed to be me that died."

"He's alive, but last I saw he had not yet awakened. And what do you mean you were supposed to be the one?"

"He hasn't awakened? But I thought...um, never mind."

"You thought what?"

"I will explain later. Can I see Luke?"

"I don't know..."

"Please let me see him. I have to know that he will be okay."

She looked at Kiran. His resemblance was indeed amazing, even down to their expressions and the sense of nobility. If she didn't know better, she would be wondering why Luke was dressed like that, but she knew very well that Luke was in no condition to be walking around. The boy's sad look appeared sincere, and he definitely seemed guilty over what he claimed to have been forced to do. Who would feel guilt for something that wasn't even their fault? This was indeed a strange boy, but at least she could assuage his grief over his actions by letting him see that Luke was alive. Who knows, maybe Kiran could give some more information. "I will take you, but in exchange, would you be willing to stay for a time to explain things to us?"

"I will answer any questions I can."

"Then let's go see how Luke is doing."

-----

Tear took Kiran to the cabin where Luke was and opened the door. Upon hearing the door open, Anise looked back to see who was there. The young girl was incredibly surprised to see Kiran and she even quickly looked back at the bed just to make sure that Luke didn't disappear somehow and had ended up in different clothes.

"Whoa! Since when does Luke have a twin who's a God-General? And what is he doing here?" Anise exclaimed.

"Anise, this is Kiran. He's the one who told Luke where to find Ion, remember?" Tear explained as she introduced the young God-General.

"So he is real then? Wow!" She exclaimed again. "Thanks for helping us find Ion, Kiran."

"You're welcome." Kiran said, looking rather uncomfortable with the attention he was getting.

"Anise, we don't need to be scaring him. He asked to see Luke, so let's allow him some time alone with Luke and then we can ask all the questions we want later. Is that all right with you, Kiran?"

"That's fine. I thank you for letting me see him."

"Wow, he sure is different from the other God-Generals." Anise commented. "Are you sure about this Tear?"

"I don't think he means Luke any harm." Tear answered.

"I don't wish Luke harm. I just want to know that he's all right."

"I wish we could say that, but we don't even know what is wrong with him, he doesn't appear to have any injuries, but if that were true, why isn't he waking up?" Tear explained. "Even the Colonel wasn't sure what his chances of recovering are. I'm sorry we don't have better news for you Kiran."

"I understand, but I think he will recover in time." Kiran said.

"You know what happened?" Anise asked him.

"I have some ideas." Kiran told them.

"Anise, let's see if the Colonel needs our help on the bridge." Tear suggested, pulling Anise away. "Kiran, when you are finished here, meet us there."

"I will do so."

Once the women left, Kiran looked over at Luke, glad to see his original appeared unhurt, at least on the outside. He was only in a very deep sleep, that would have been a cause for concern, except that he knew Luke's mind just needed time to recover from what happened. Only someone who had seen what he had would understand that. He sat down in the chair Anise had been using before he and Tear had arrived.

_Luke, can you hear me?_ He spoke into Luke's mind, not sure he was going to get an answer, but he also wanted to know the extent of what happened. He was heartened to hear a response, even if it was so faint that he could not understand what was being said.

For the first time since he discovered that he could speak to Luke via the connection their minds had, he felt some of what could very well be Luke's own emotions: guilt, sadness and pain. But he couldn't be sure those were indeed Luke's own emotions, or simply his own, intensified upon opening the connection and seeing Luke like this.

He decided to try a different tactic though, he wasn't as sure this one would work. While he could walk into Luke's mind, or Luke could walk into his; that only tended to work if neither were awake. He had to try though, as it seemed that was the only way he was going to hear Luke. He called out to Luke to come find him within his own mind, hoping that Luke would indeed hear him and be able to come.

Soon after, he suddenly felt tired. He couldn't keep his eyes open at all. He was even having trouble remaining upright. His last thought before his head fell to Luke's chest was that it must have worked. And then he was asleep.

-----

Kiran opened his eyes and found himself within the darkened field that was his own mind. He did always wonder why his mind was night while Luke's was day, perhaps it was a part of the difference between original and replica. He looked around and had a hard time seeing much beyond him due to the thick fog that had pervaded his mind since Akzeriuth.

He took a few steps and found what he was looking for, Luke was lying down a short distance away from him on the grass. He walked over and sat down beside his original, who sat up upon seeing him.

"Kiran! I thought I heard you. I tried to answer, but I don't think you heard me at all."

"You voice was very faint, I couldn't understand what you were trying to say, so I tried the more direct approach."

"The direct approach?"

"You haven't figured out what this is yet? We seem to have a special connection between our minds. We can communicate in a few ways through this connection. Sometimes it is speaking to each other's mind, but when we both are asleep, we can even walk into each other's minds. Right now you are in my own mind."

"It's so different from mine. Why is it so dark? And I don't remember the thick fog from the last time."

"You weren't the only one affected by Akzeriuth. Even if the darkness has existed for as long as I can remember, the fog was caused by that."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was much worse for you. You still have a long ways to go it seems, and your friends are worried."

"I wish I could tell them I will be fine."

"I will tell them for you. They already have been asking me many questions about what happened. I guess I gave the right answers, since she let me see you."

"Will you help them until I recover?"

"If they decide to stop whatever Van plans, I will aid them however I can, until he is no longer able to carry them out or I am no longer alive to do so. If they decide not to, I will make sure they get to their homes safely and do what I can to stop him."

"Ask them to take me to Baticul before they leave for whatever they decide, will you?"

Kiran smiled. "You want your wife to care for you, don't you? I can understand that."

"I promised her that I would be back in time for the baby's birth. Also, news of what happened to Akzeriuth should reach her soon, she will be worried."

"Yes, she needs to know you are still alive."

"And I want her to meet you. I think you will like her, she's a wonderful woman."

"I don't know if I should..."

"Why?"

Kiran hesitated. The last thing he wanted to tell Luke was about his involvement in the escape of the one who murdered his father. He was indeed aware of why Nepenthes was condemned to die in Baticul, but one did not exactly ignore one of Cantabile's "requests". Such requests were most often actually orders disguised with the impression that they could be refused.

"Kiran, tell me what you are hiding from me. It can't be as bad as you think."

"Fine. But in my defense, I was under orders."

"What were you ordered to do?"

"Cantabile ordered me to pretend to be you in Baticul after you left for Akzeriuth."

Luke was silent for a time. Kiran was so afraid that he had upset Luke for another matter in which he had no control. That was why he had decided he would no longer follow orders from Van or any God-General. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his only friend more. After what seemed like an eternity, Luke finally answered. "Don't worry about it. I had a feeling Van was involved in there somehow and would find a way to free him. He seemed too willing to give up one of his men. At least with your assistance by pretending to be me, less people got hurt, right?"

"I don't know all the details, but only one man died in my part, I'm sorry that I was the one who had to kill him."

"As much as I hate to hear of any of the guards getting hurt, had you not been involved, it would have been worse. So I forgive you."

"How can you forgive that so easily?"

"Something Guy told me did hit a nerve. It seems my father did some horrible things under orders when I was younger. I never knew, but I didn't hate him for fighting in the Hod War, so how can I hate you for following orders?"

"I will help you recapture him, I promise."

"If it makes you feel better, then I will accept that. But please, don't beat yourself up for it. The fact that you regret your actions is enough for me."

"I only mentioned it though, as I am likely to cause trouble in Baticul for my part."

"And you saved my life. If my wife knows that, she will make sure you don't get punished."

"I will do what you can, but if your King deems that I should be punished, I will willingly submit to whatever his wishes are."

"Just make sure the others know what you did for me. They met my wife and she would likely accept their word, she will handle the rest. I am more concerned that Natalia knows that I am alive so she doesn't grieve for me."

"I can only hope that with her care, you will recover quickly. I hate seeing you like that; at least here you seem okay."

"I can't help it. I tried to wake up, but my body wouldn't respond to my wishes. Even talking to you here is making me tired, I don't even know how much longer I can do this."

"Then get some rest so you can get better."

"Will you stay with me a bit longer?"

"Until you fall asleep."

"Thank you." Luke laid his head in Kiran's lap, taking comfort in the closeness of his friend as a child would his parent.

Luke's trusting gesture made Kiran feel a bit strange, but it wasn't a bad feeling, just the opposite in fact. It was a nice warm feeling he had never felt before.

He felt loved.

-----

Kiran opened his eyes and saw Anise nearby holding an empty glass. He then realized his hair was dripping wet.

"Sorry, Kiran." Anise apologized. "Tear sent me to check on you and I found you asleep. You wouldn't wake up, so I thought to try something that works with Luke. He would wake up once I threaten to soak him, but you didn't, so I tried the water and then you woke up."

"May I have a towel?" He asked.

"You aren't mad, are you?" She asked him as she handed him a towel that was hanging on a peg nearby.

He took the towel and dried his hair the best he could for now. He looked over at Luke and saw that amazingly Anise didn't get him wet. "No, I'm not mad. I'm just not used to people caring."

"Kiran, if you don't mind my asking, what was it like for you among the Oracle Knights? None of us knew a thing about you, so I was kinda curious about how that might have affected you."

"It was lonely, but until recently, I didn't even know any different."

"The other God-Generals knew about you, didn't they? Weren't they your friends?"

"I had no friends among the Oracle Knights."

"You're friends with Luke though, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I thought so. He's really nice, so I do hope he gets better."

"He will, it will just take some time."

"How do you know that? Even the Colonel and Tear don't know, and Tear's a healer and the Colonel trained as a doctor." Anise pointed out. "Wait, did you have one of those dreams like Luke has? And you saw him in it?"

"Something like that. It's hard to explain, so I would prefer to explain it only once. Why don't we find the others so I can explain everything?"

"Will Luke be okay if we leave him?"

"He'll be fine. He's in no danger now, he just needs time to rest and recover from what happened."

-----

Kiran and Anise arrived on the bridge to find Tear and Jade currently in the midst of a conversation. "Tear, how do you know about Yulia City? No one even knows the Qliphoth exists, and you know of a city in it?"

Anise interrupted, "Is that where we are?"

"Only those of Maestro rank or higher in the Order or those born in the Qliphoth know of its existence."

"Then Tear, were you born in the Qliphoth?" Anise asked.

"Yes, I was born in Yulia City. I only recently came to the Outer Lands for a mission for the Order."

"I see..." Jade mentioned. "Anyway, it looks like our guest has arrived. You name is Kiran, correct?"

Kiran looked nervous under the gaze of the Malkuth Colonel, but he hesitantly answered. "Yes, I am Kiran."

"And you hold the ability to speak to people in their dreams? That is not an ability I have ever heard of."

"And neither have I. What Luke and I have seems to be different."

"Does it have to do with the fact that one of you is a replica of the other?"

"A replica?" Tear asked.

"Yes, I am Luke's replica." Kiran answered. "I was made over six years ago."

"Who among the Order broke the ban on fomicry on living beings?"

"I only know that Van was involved in my creation."

"My brother? He can create replicas?" Tear inquired.

"It seems so. Kiran is indeed living proof. Kiran, can you explain more of what you and Luke have?"

"I don't know everything, but we seem to have some sort of a connection to each other. I have been able to speak to him within his mind, if we are asleep I can even go into his mind, as he can with me. I also found out that I can control his actions if I concentrate hard."

"Did you control him at Akzeriuth then?" Tear asked.

"I was forced to."

"How could you have been forced to use this ability? As far as I know, what you and Luke have is a one of a kind thing, as the few replicas we know of did not have any sort of connection mentally with their original." Jade inquired of the boy.

"When I was first made, as an insurance that I would eventually do my duty when the time came, a Curse slot was placed upon me so that if I changed my mind, my actions could be controlled."

"Your duty?" Tear asked.

"I was made to be a tool to replace Luke in Akzeriuth. The Score foretold that he would destroy himself and the city. Van had a need of him and his abilities after that, so he made me to be able to replace Luke and then make use of his abilities."

"So what happened then? Both of you lived, so something must have gone wrong." Tear wondered.

"Luke was being stubborn. He wouldn't help Van, in fact, he was about to take me and leave the area. He didn't want to destroy Akzeriuth and he didn't want me to die for him. I was going to go with him, but then I lost control of my actions and was forced to make him use his hyperresonance on the passage ring. I'm sorry for hurting him. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I was willing to die for him; he wasn't supposed to be hurt."

"What happened when we came in?" Tear asked. "Some light was surrounding him and then after that he almost died."

"At the last moment, I felt the control over me break, so I no longer controlled Luke's actions. He lost control of the hyperresonance; the rest of his power was unleashed on himself."

"Oh no!" Tear cried. "That was why he almost died?"

"Kiran, did you do something to save him? I somehow doubt what I did was what brought him back to us." Jade asked.

"When Van forced me to leave the area, I didn't want to. I couldn't stand that Luke would die and I would live. I went into his mind and told him that if he was going to give up on living, so would I. He wouldn't accept that, so it gave him the will to fight to live."

"And then you came back to check on him." Tear mentioned. "Thank you for saving him."

"It was the least I could do. He saved my life there, so I felt it necessary to do what I could to save his."

"So what are your plans now, Kiran?" Jade asked him.

"Luke wants me to help you in whatever your plans are next. He also asked to be taken to Baticul as soon as we could do so."

"You don't plan to go back to my brother then?" Tear asked.

"No, after what he did, Luke and I agree that whatever he plans needs to be stopped. If none of you want to help, then I will do it myself."

"Well, before we can consider the future, we have to find a way back to the Outer Lands. Tear, would the people of Yulia City be able to assist us?" Jade asked.

"There is a way there. It's called the Yulia Road. That's how I came to the Outer Lands." Tear answered.

"What is the Yulia Road?" Jade asked.

"It is an old technology that even we don't know how it works, but it will take a single person to the Outer Lands. We use it any time there is a need for someone to go to the Outer Lands."

"Hmm, that would work, but we likely will have a need of the Tartarus. Is there any way in which we could get the Tartarus up there?"

"When we arrive, we can ask my grandfather. He's the mayor of Yulia City, if anyone would know a way, he would."

"Is it much further?" Anise inquired.

Tear looked out the window that the bridge had. She knew they would come within sight of Yulia City soon, they should be seeing the lights and the water at any moment. Then she saw a faint twinkle of lights upon water. "There it is. The lights are reflecting off the water that pours from the Outer Lands to the city."

"Won't that harm the Tartarus?" Jade inquired.

"No, it evaporates near the surface. We should only go through a vapor at most." Tear told them.

"So how do the people survive down here? Wouldn't they get sick from the miasma?" Anise asked.

"When we get closer, you will see why. The city was made in an old and forgotten design that prevents the miasma from getting to the people within it. There is a lot of technology in the city that we don't fully understand since it was built in the Dawn Age."

"Wow! Even Daath isn't that old!" Anise exclaimed. "What do they do if something breaks?"

"We can maintain the technology, but we can't replace anything or rebuild, since we don't know how it works."

"Anise, be careful then." Jade warned her.

"Boooo! I can behave just fine!" Anise sulked.

"I am sure Anise will do fine. I doubt she could break anything there." Tear told them.

"Anyway, we should prepare to arrive. Kiran and Tear, could you take care of Luke? Anise, I would appreciate your assistance with our docking."

Kiran and Tear left to do as asked and Anise stayed to assist. It wasn't much later that they finally arrived in Yulia City.

Now they just had to plan what they were going to do next.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	19. A Short Reprive

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Sorry this one took so long! I seemed to get a small case of writer's block soon after starting with this one. By the way, check out my profile, I updated it to add fanart inspired by this fic (including some by me). Now to get the questions that I have answered for some, but may as well answer them here.

Trystle - Silly me forgot to directly mention it like the game did, oops! Basically what I figured is that after he and Van flew off on the griffons, he somehow lost Van. Of course, that doesn't mean Van will forget about him, oh no way will that happen!

mayura - Ah, pairings for Kiran, I knew it would be a matter of time before I was asked that. I admit, I am hesitant to pair him with Tear, as I don't think it would work out well. I have a pairing in mind that I will have to see what comes of it. It should be very cute and she's more the type of person he needs, but both of them have to cooperate, and I also get a feeling some "well-meaning" party members will be playing matchmaker.

* * *

Yulia City turned out to be just as amazing as Tear's explanation had lead the group to believe. The city was built within a transparent dome, which explained the lights they had seen from within, as well as how the residents of the city could even survive living in the miasma filled Qliphoth. 

The city did have a place where ships could dock. It was something left over from the Dawn Age, before the Outer Lands were created. In these times, it was very seldom used, but like everything in the ancient city, it was well-maintained. If it hadn't been, it would be easy for the miasma to leak in and cause problems for those living within. Thankfully, this meant that the group would have no problems with docking the Tartarus.

Since Tear had no idea how long it would take to make arrangements for them to take the Tartarus up to the Outer Lands, they decided that it would be best to bring Luke in with them. Tear offered her own residence for him to stay in until they were ready to leave. This way, they would have him close at hand in case something happened. They also planned to have a doctor within the city examine him while they were waiting. Kiran was very insistent on handling anything pertaining to Luke's health, something none of the others had a problem with. They trusted him more since their previous conversation.

Once the Tartarus was docked, they went inside the city. Tear showed Kiran to her residence so he knew where to bring Luke and could make him comfortable for the duration of their stay. She promised to send the city's doctor over before they spoke with the mayor.

After leaving Kiran alone with Luke, and finding the doctor, Tear, Jade and Anise went to speak with the mayor of Yulia City. They were able to find the mayor within the main building's central conference room where he was looking over some papers on his own. He looked up upon hearing the door open and saw Tear and the others. "Tear! How did your mission in the Outer Lands go? And who might the others be?"

"Grandfather, this is Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth Military and Fon Master Guardian Anise Tatlin. We just came from Akzeriuth with two others after the it's passage ring was destroyed." Tear explained.

The older man's expression did not change even upon hearing of the destruction of Akzeriuth. "It is a pleasure to meet both of you. I am Teodoro, mayor of Yulia City."

"Grandfather, aren't you going to say anything about Akzeriuth? It fell into the Qliphoth and thousands died, just like with Hod before I was born. And Van was the one who caused it to happen!"

"Tear, you know that as watchers, it is our duty to see the Score fulfilled. We don't want to lose the prosperity Yulia promised us all those years ago. Akzeriuth's destruction was indeed within the Score. Van was merely upholding his duty as a watcher to ensure that those events came about."

"At the cost of thousands of lives? Why couldn't the people have been evacuated first? We were there to accomplish that anyhow."

"You know that it is against Yulia's teachings to tell a Score of death. Knowing that Akzeriuth was to be destroyed, would you have changed what you did there?"

"Well, yeah. The people didn't need to die. We wouldn't need to tell them about it either." Anise mentioned. "We were going to evacuate them because of the miasma. Why couldn't the Commandant wait until we were done with that?"

"Because then the one who was to accomplish that act would have no reason to be within the city. That could have caused a deviation to the Score that would ruin the chances for prosperity. If the people had left on their own before that, it would have been different."

"Then the Score foretold Luke's part in it also?"

"It did. According to the Score the young Scion of Lorelei would destroy himself and the city."

"That's awful! How could they send someone as young as him to his death?"

"Because to deviate would ruin our chances for prosperity."

"Mayor, could you perhaps answer a question for us?" Jade interrupted to change the subject.

"If it is within my power to do so."

"We need to return to the Outer Lands. We also will need to have the ship that brought us here. Do you perhaps know a way to make that happen?"

The older man thought over the question for a time before answering. "There is a way, but I cannot be sure it will work."

"What are you considering, Grandfather?" Tear asked him.

"It may be possible to raise the Sephiroth that was destroyed one last time. It wouldn't be able to raise the land, but it could create enough energy and an upwards push to raise a ship up. It would only work one time though, and it would be very risky for those involved. I would advise to use the Yulia Road instead, it would be safer."

"The Yulia Road would take us to Daath, and we could get a ship to Baticul that way."

"If we have any way of taking the Tartarus with us, we should. We will have need of it." Jade answered.

"Then I will make the arrangements. Some adjustments will need to be made to your ship, and it make take a few days to prepare. Until then, you are welcome to stay. Tear, could you find your friends quarters during their stay?"

"Yes, Grandfather."

"Then if you will excuse me, I need to get started with the arrangements before the council meeting."

"Thank you, Grandfather."

-----

The doctor who was sent to examine Luke had just finished the test she needed to gauge what sort of condition Luke was in. She left the room to go over the test results, leaving Kiran alone with Luke.

Kiran knew that Luke couldn't answer, that was why Kiran was surprised when he heard a barely audible voice that sounded like Luke's within his mind. _What was that about?_

It was the sweetest sound Kiran had heard since he spoke last with Luke within their minds. _Luke? Is that really you? I am not imagining your voice, am I? _

_You can actually hear me? _

_You are a bit quiet, but yes I can hear you. _

_So, can you tell me what's going on then? _

_We are now in a place called _ _Yulia__City__. It is a city that exists below where we come from which is called the Outer Lands. Even I didn't know this place exists, but it's dreary enough that it was likely better not knowing about this place. The area where _ _Yulia__City__ sits is called the Qliphoth, and it is much worse than even the deeper mines in Akzeriuth were. _

_That sounds pretty awful. Are you guys going to be able to get out? _

_It actually seems like this was where Tear grew up. She got up to the Outer Lands somehow, so we should be able to get back. Her and the others are speaking with the mayor on that matter right now. _

_And you? _

_Well, someone had to answer all the questions the doctor had. _

_Was it that bad? _

_She asked more questions than the others did. It was hard to answer all of them, because I didn't feel I had a right to talk about those things. _

_Do they know what's wrong then? I really hate this and wish I could open my eyes, but I can't. _

_She's off checking results of the tests now. _

_Promise me you'll tell me, no matter how bad it is. _

_It won't be bad. You're alive, that is good enough for now._

_True, but I can't help wishing for more. If only I could just open my eyes and at least wake up from whatever this is. _

_Just concentrate on getting better, don't worry about anything else. _

_Kiran, don't let your guilt get the better of you. This isn't your fault. _

_I'm not! _

_I can feel it coming from you. The feeling of guilt from you is overwhelming. I don't blame you, I blame Van. _

_I know that. _

_Then stop feeling guilty about me. Concentrate on stopping whatever Van plans. If you can do that, I can concentrate on getting better so I can help you. _

The door opened and the doctor stepped back into the room with some papers. "I have the results of the tests I did on your brother."

_Brother? _

_She assumed it since we look alike. I thought it best to let her assume that than to explain the truth. _

_Probably a good idea. _

_We'll talk more about it later, for now let's hear what she has to say. I will leave the connection open so you can hear too._ "So what's wrong with him, doctor?" Kiran asked out loud to the woman.

"I admit, I am amazed he is still alive. Whatever happened to him caused a great amount of damage internally in both his mind and body. His body seems to be working hard to fix it, but it may not all be able to be fixed. He will need further testing to find out how much damage was done and plot a course for his recovery. Once that's done, we'll be able to better understand his chances for a full recovery."

"We won't be staying long though, just long enough to make arrangements to get back to our homes in the Outer Lands."

"Tear mentioned that. The testing can be done when you return. It is better that way, as it should be done by whomever takes over his care."

"Do you know if he will ever wake up?"

"Right now, I cannot answer that question. He could wake up tomorrow, or he may never wake up. Until he does, he will need a great deal of care to ensure further problems do not come about. I will show you what needs to be done."

She spent the time needed to show Kiran how to care for Luke while he was unable to even open his eyes. During this time, Kiran felt Luke's presence go away, he must have fallen asleep. Just as she finished showing him everything, the others returned. "Are we interrupting?" Jade inquired.

"No, I was just finishing. If you have any questions or any changes happen before your departure, don't hesitate to come to me."

"Thank you." Kiran told her as she left.

"What did she have to say?" Tear inquired.

"That the hyperresonance damaged him internally was the basic idea."

"Was she able to answer how long it will take for him to recover?" Jade asked.

"She had about as much idea as we do. She did mention further testing to be done when we get him home to Baticul, since it cannot be done now, that will give more answers."

"I am sure his wife will be able to handle that. Anyway, we don't have any idea at this time how long it will take them to make arrangements for the Tartarus to return to the Outer Lands. We also need to discuss plans for once we return. Firstly, Tear, will you be coming back with us, or will you stay here?" Jade explained to the group.

"My original objective for coming to the Outer Lands still remains to be accomplished. I am convinced more than ever that my brother needs to be stopped, even if that means his death at my hands. If that is what Kiran plans, then he will have my assistance if he wants it." Tear mentioned.

"I would be glad for whatever assistance I can get." Kiran told her.

"Anise, what about you?" Jade inquired of the cheerful Fon Master guardian.

"I have to return to Ion, if he's still alive." She explained.

"He should be in Daath, Anise. I remember hearing something about the Fon Master being removed from Akzeriuth once the door was open and that was assigned to Sync." Kiran mentioned to alleviate her fears.

"That's a relief. Then I guess I have to return to Daath to make sure he got back all right. Who knows what Sync could have done to Ion in this time."

"What about you, Colonel? Will you be returning to Malkuth?" Tear questioned Jade.

"As of now, rumors of my demise have likely reached the Emperor. I should return soon to put a stop to those rumors. For now though, I can tag along for a time so I can have more to report to his Imperial Majesty upon my return." Jade explained. "His Imperial Majesty likely will have an interest in what really happened in Akzeriuth, as rumors are already likely circulating, and if the Oracle Knights have any further plans to cause problems then he should be made aware of them."

"So first we are heading to Baticul, then Daath, and from there...?"

"If the Colonel wishes to join us in investigations, I would welcome his knowledge. I do know there is some sort of research being done in Belkend. What sort of research, I don't know. That would likely be a place where we can get some information on what the Oracle Knights plan next." Kiran suggested.

"Research in Belkend? How fascinating that the Oracle Knights would use an area that belongs to Kimlasca for research, especially fascinating since that area belonged to Duke Fabre if I have my information correct."

"Kiran, how long have they been using Belkend for research?" Tear asked the boy.

"I do not know exactly. I first heard about it some months ago."

"More or less than a year ago would you estimate?" Tear asked him.

"I would say over a year."

"Tear, are you thinking that perhaps Duke Fabre found out about this research?"

"It would explain a lot. His murder could very well have been to silence him about whatever they were up to. We may even be able to find some more information in Baticul if that is true. Kiran, do you think you could find out from Luke where his father would keep such information and get permission to find it?"

"I will ask him about it later."

"We should be careful investigating this research though. If it is indeed why Duke Fabre was murdered, that tells us just what lengths they will go to keep this a secret." Jade pointed out.

"I remember Luke saying something about it being a more personal type of thing. If Duke Fabre did find something out, that may have only caused a hatred to be acted upon more swiftly." Tear mentioned.

"Indeed. Any of those in Malkuth who lost family during the Hod War to Duke Fabre would not be disappointed to hear of his death. Some may have been willing to hasten it along. Still, we should not underestimate how determined the Oracle Knights are, especially since we know one of them was the murderer."

"Agreed."

"Kiran, can you explain what you were doing with Ion in the Zao Ruins?" Jade questioned the boy.

"We had the Fon Master open the door to the passage ring."

"There's one in the Zao Ruins also?" Tear inquired.

"Yes there is."

"What does my brother plan to do now that this door is open?"

"That I don't know."

"It would be best to find this out. He could very well be planning to do the same to Chesedonia. What about during the time when Ion was taken from the Tartarus?"

"He was taken to Shurrey Hill to open the door there."

"So St. Binah also then. Tear, do you think Mayor Teodoro would tell us anything about if the Score predicts these two places will fall?"

"He wouldn't tell us if people will die. I will ask though, he may tell me something that could help."

"Good. And see if you can find anything out about the passage rings themselves. It would be good to know if the doors to them being open could be a danger."

"I will. We should get some rest, and I still need to show all of you where you will be staying. Well, except Kiran, you can stay here with Luke."

"I won't put you out of your own home, Tear."

"It's no bother. I don't have any more beds and it would be better for you to stay close to Luke since you have a way to communicate with him. I can stay with Anise until we leave."

"If it won't bother you..."

"It won't. Just take good care of Luke for us."

"I will, I promise."

-----

"Grandfather, do you have a moment?" Tear asked when she found Teodoro alone later.

"Of course, Tear. How might I be of assistance?"

"Does the Score mention anything about St. Binah or Chesedonia falling?"

"You know I cannot disclose details like those, but in this case, let me assure you that the Score says nothing about either city falling. Why do you ask this?"

"One of my companions mentioned the doors to the Sephiroth had been opened in those areas, as it was with Akzeriuth."

"Van likely has his reasons for doing so, but it would not be because the lands will fall into the Qliphoth like Akzeriuth."

"Isn't it dangerous to have those doors open?"

"Actually no, not really. The door itself is only the Daathic seal to the Sephiroth. There are other seals that have been placed to ensure that not just anyone can use the passage rings. Even if those seals were somehow broken, it is very unlikely they could work the passage rings. It requires a Seventh Fonist to even activate the rings once the seals are broken. So rest your mind, no other lands are in danger." He assured her. "Speaking of your companions, I had wished to ask about them."

Tear grew wary, she remembered what was said earlier about Luke. "What about them?"

"You mentioned two others earlier. I have heard word from others about them. Is it true that they are twins and one is the heir to the throne of Kimlasca?"

"How did you find that out? We didn't tell anyone."

"You remember that we have records of all the people in the Outer Lands. However, I don't recall there being twins among the Kimlascan royal family."

"Kiran is Luke's replica. Even Luke didn't know about him."

"A replica? I had heard word that some had been created from humans, even though there is no mention of them in the Score. Why would someone create a replica of Luke?"

"From what we were told, Van intended Kiran to take Luke's place in destroying the passage ring."

"Hmm, so he is the one then. He hasn't awoken since your arrival in the Qliphoth, correct?"

"No, he has not."

"The Score said that he would 'destroy himself and the city'. Guard him well if you wish him to remain as he is. There are those who will seek to put him to death to fulfill the Score."

"Are you one of them?"

"The report I received about him spoke of how his mind and body was destroyed and it was amazing that he even still lived. In my eyes, the Score was upheld, albeit in a different way than we had expected." He answered her. "You do realize that he may never awaken again though, correct? It may have been better had he died quickly rather than a slow lingering death that may be awaiting him."

"How can you say that?! At least this way he may recover."

"I can tell you have grown close to him in your travels. Don't get your hopes up though. Just remember what I said, if you want him to have a chance to recover, guard him closely."

"I will, Grandfather. Is there anything else you wish to ask about him?"

"No. Keep quiet about those two as much as possible. I will see what I can do among the Order to ensure no one causes you trouble over this."

"Thank you. Do you know how long it will be before we can go back to the Outer Lands?"

"Everything was able to be arranged quicker than I expected. Barring any delays you should be able to leave tomorrow afternoon."

"Thanks for your help with that. If there is nothing else, I should get some rest now."

"You may go, rest well Tear."

-----

For the first time in many days, they were all able to find some time to relax, even Kiran, who was still keeping close to Luke. They were all glad for even a few hours of relaxation, as they knew what was coming was going to take a long time, especially Kiran and Tear, since they planned to go after Van. Rest would definitely not come to them anytime soon as they tried to get a step ahead of whatever it was that Van had planned.

No problems occurred with getting the Tartarus ready for its trip to the Outer Lands. Yulia City had some great engineers who were able to achieve what appeared nearly impossible and in such a short time. It seemed there was some sort of a device left over that had been used in the past to take a ship to the Outer Lands soon after it rose via the Sephiroth.

With the information provided by the engineers, Jade was able to estimate that they would arrive in Baticul the next morning. They would all be glad to have that leg of the journey done, but Kiran found that he was both looking forward to and dreading it. He only hoped nothing bad would happen to him for what he did the last time he was there. He tried not to think too much on it and busied himself helping out however he could with preparations for the Tartarus' departure.

A short time later, everyone was on board and ready to go, including Luke, who had been taken to one of the cabins. Jade was receiving some last minute instructions on handling the device and the Tartarus itself during the trip to the Outer Lands. Jade was the only one who could handle it; none of the others had any experience at handling the ship, and in this case, even the slightest error could be deadly to them all.

The last of the instructions were given and everything was ready. The engineers opened the dock to allow the Tartarus to leave. It was a shorter distance to their place of departure than it was to arrive in Yulia City from Akzeriuth in the first place, the engineer's were able to find a way to raise Hod's Sephiroth instead. It worked out better that way, since the shorter distance meant they could finish this faster. In addition, Hod's location being surrounded by water meant less room for error in landing and less height to scale in getting back. Akzeriuth was mostly surrounded by land and only one side had water. The land itself required more lift to get over it, and there was an added risk of crashing.

Tear found it somewhat ironic that they were using the location of Hod for their departure point. The fall of Hod was what had caused her arrival to the Qliphoth in the first place. That was where Van had grown up and he had been very upset about its fall. She knew that must have something to do with why he was doing all this.

Through the windows of the Tartarus, they all could see Sephiroth raised once more. It was actually a rare sight, since the only Sephiroth that could be seen in the Outer Lands were the two that made up the Planet Storm, and most did not get to see them this close up. It was beautiful, with all the golden swirling memory particles interspersed within the purple fog of the miasma; definitely a sight none of them would see again. After all, the engineers said this could only be done once.

Jade activated the device that was placed on the Tartarus. It was a very simple device that would draw the memory particles to the Tartarus so that something was pushing it upwards. Soon after all of them could feel the ship rising upwards along with the golden swirls moving before their eyes.

The higher they went, the thinner the miasma got, until it no longer could be seen among the golden light of the Sephiroth. Soon after the miasma vanished they could see the blue skies and ocean of the Outer Lands. They had landed in the ocean with no mishaps.

Now they just had to get to Baticul. They were all relieved to have gotten through that part of the journey without issue. They all hoped it was an omen of things to come.

They still had a very long road ahead of them.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	20. An Illusion of Belonging

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Sorry this one took so long! A particular scene decided to drive me nuts. Thanks darkangel and Trystle for helping break me of my block on it and giving me loads of ideas and making it way longer than I had planned, ooops. I hope the length of this chapter makes up for the fact that it took awhile to finish. It was my longest chapter already before I even finished the last scenes! Unfortunately, I make no guarantees on how long it will take for the next chapter to be posted. I already know the first scene is going to be hard. I never have been good at fight scenes, and the one that would likely be one of the hardest to write had to come first.

* * *

The group decided to dock a short distance away from Baticul and walk the rest of the way into the city. Arriving in the Kimlascan capital on a Malkuth landship didn't seem like the best idea, in fact it could only cause more problems seeing as they had no idea what the situation in the city had become since Akzeriuth's destruction. 

Jade checked the ship for some clothes other than his uniform that would fit him. While they doubted Malkuth and Kimlascan were openly at war, it was likely not in their best interest to have someone openly wearing a military uniform among them. They knew this was going to be difficult enough without Luke's presence, causing any further animosity towards their group would make it nearly impossible for them to accomplish anything besides being thrown in the dungeon.

Kiran, Tear and Anise had created a makeshift litter to carry Luke into the city. They knew it would be too much to have Kiran carry him the whole distance since the walk to the city from where they had chosen to dock would take about an hour. Kiran found his feelings of unease growing more and more as the time they were to depart for Baticul drew closer.

_Kiran, don't be nervous. Most will mistake you for me which can only help you to get into the castle. Then you just have to explain things. The others are already known to my family, so it should be fine. _

_That doesn't stop me from being scared that I will be thrown in the dungeon or something. I deserve to be anyhow. _

_No you don't! Damn it! I wish I was able to explain... _

"Kiran, are you ready to go?" A female voice interrupted his conversation. He turned and saw Tear standing in the doorway of the cabin.

"Um, yeah. I'm ready." He replied nervously.

"The Colonel is waiting for us." She told him. "Is something wrong, Kiran?" She inquired, noticing his posture that so very clearly showed how nervous he was.

"No, nothing is wrong."

She stifled a giggle behind her hand at seeing his response to her query. "You are definitely a lot like Luke. He acts just like that when something is wrong and he doesn't want to talk about it."

"I do?"

"Very much so. There's nothing wrong with it, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen."

"Thanks, but I would prefer not to talk about it."

"Then let's not keep the Colonel waiting."

-----

After an hour's worth of tedious walking, they finally came upon Baticul. The city was as they had remembered from their previous visit, which was good; there were no signs that the city was preparing to go to war. The two guards at the front gates of the city perked up upon seeing the group. "Master Luke! It's good to see you home. We had heard..." one of the guards started to say but was silenced by a look from the other guard.

"He's home, we don't need to talk about that." The second guard said to the first, then to Kiran, "You should go to the Princess right away. She has missed you."

Kiran started to say something when he heard Luke's voice again _Don't say that, just thank them and go on._

"Thanks, both of you. I will go see her right away." Kiran told them.

_See? Things will be fine. _

_It's you they want to see though. _

_Just take my place for now. Once everything is explained to my family you can drop the act. _

They walked into the city and immediately headed towards the castle. The closer they got to the castle itself, the more uncomfortable Kiran felt. The exuberant greetings he received on Luke's behalf didn't help matters, even though Luke seemed to appreciate them. Kiran did recall this from before, the people always would have a kind word for Luke and he had been gone for so long that they were even happier to see him. Eventually they did reach the castle gates. Kiran didn't even notice that his steps got slower the closer they got until he stopped within sight of the castle.

"Nervous?" Tear asked him.

"Very. I am afraid things will go wrong."

"It should be fine. We have good news, not bad, and you did save Luke's life, right? Look at the love his people have for him. If it hadn't been for you, all of these people would have been sad when we arrived."

"But still..."

_She's right. Just go inside, you can't stand here forever_.

"Let's go." Kiran told them in response.

They walked up the stairs to the castle gates. Upon seeing the group, the guards greeted Kiran, "Master Luke! You've returned!"

"You definitely have to see the Princess, she'll be so ecstatic." the other guard told them.

"I'll do that. Might I ask where she is now?" Kiran asked them.

"She should be in the Audience Chamber with his Majesty."

"Thank you."

_See Kiran? You're doing fine. All that is left is to tell my wife what happened and let her meet you. _

_That's what I'm nervous about. _

_Just get up there and get it over with. _

_All right. _

They walked inside towards the audience chamber and then up the long set of stairs leading to the doors that kept the chamber separate from the main hall. The last set of guards greeted Kiran just as enthusiastically as all the others had and let them right inside.

Upon entering the large hall, those inside turned their attention to the group who had just entered. Natalia's face turned quickly from distant and sad to completely cheerful in a matter of seconds upon seeing Kiran. "Luke! You're alive!" She exclaimed before she ran over to hug the boy.

Kiran was shocked by her sudden action and knew he had to say something before this continued on longer. "Princess, I..." he started to say before he got interrupted by the Princess kissing him. He was shocked to say the least and could not stop the confused look from coming over his eyes. He had never had a woman kiss him before.

Behind him, Anise was trying to stifle laughter at the look on Kiran's face, as was Tear. Jade didn't even bother hiding the amused grin that came to him. Upon hearing a giggle that ended up sounding more like a snort when Anise tried to stop it from coming out, the Princess was startled out of her warm greeting to Luke's replica, giving him a chance to recover.

After a moment of calming himself, he spoke, "Princess, after that greeting, I very much wish I was indeed Luke, but I cannot say that I am, I'm sorry, but I am his replica, Kiran."

The Princess blushed a shade of red about equal to the color that Kiran's face and hair was at that moment. "W-what do you mean?"

_Luke, what should I say? _

_Be gentle, she must have news already, assure her that I am alive. _

"Princess, your husband is alive and we have brought him back to you, but I am not him."

"Imposter! How dare you pretend to be him?!" She screamed all of a sudden. "Guards, take this imposter from my sight immediately!"

"Natalia, give him a chance to explain." Ingobert interjected in an attempt to calm his distraught daughter.

Two guards came running up and took hold of Kiran. "What shall we do with him, your Highness?"

"Take him to the dungeon for now."

"Yes, your Highness." The guards answered, leading Kiran away from the distraught Princess who was on the verge of tears. Kiran didn't even try to resist, somehow he had known it would be like this.

_Kiran, don't worry, the others will explain, Uncle seemed to hear what you said if Natalia did not. If I had known, I would have told you differently _

_There was nothing you could do, she's right, I am merely an imposter. _

_Don't let her words get to you. When she calms down, she will see reason and apologize to you, just watch. _

"Father, may I be excused?" Natalia asked after Kiran was out of the room.

"Yes. Go and calm down, I will find out what happened here." the king told her.

"Thank you, Father." she answered. She left as quickly as her dignity would allow to go back to her room.

"I apologize for my daughter's display. She has been rather upset since finding out about Luke's death. Could we hear an explanation of what happened and who that boy was that looked just like Luke?"

"If I may, your Majesty? I can explain." Jade interjected.

"Please do, Colonel Curtiss."

"Your Majesty, are you aware of the fact that Akzeriuth has been destroyed?"

"Yes, we have heard the news."

"News does indeed travel quickly. Anyway, it seemed the Score foretold that Luke would be the one to destroy Akzeriuth. Commandant Grants had another idea though. He made a replica of Luke, which would be the one who was taken to the dungeon, Kiran, to replace Luke in the role the Score foretold for him. Instead of this original plan, the replica was forced to take control of Luke and have him destroy the city."

"How could Luke's replica even do that?"

"Kiran mentioned that he could take control of Luke's actions through an unusual connection they have. I have never seen such a thing in a replica with his original before. Commandant Grants must have known about this ability of theirs as he took advantage of it. He had a Curse Slot placed on Kiran and through that he could control Luke. Something happened during the last moments before the city was destroyed. It seemed that Luke lost control of the hyperresonance he was forced to make and instead used his powers upon himself rather than the target he had been forced to."

"So, that is how the Score was upheld."

"Your Majesty, Luke didn't die. He came very close, but he is still alive." Tear interrupted.

"How could that be? The Score foretold his death."

"Might I answer that, your Majesty?" Tear inquired.

"You may."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Tear answered. "I was about to heal Luke in an attempt to save him, but the city was about to fall down upon all of us. I had to use my fonic hymns to save us all. During that time, Kiran did something, even though he wasn't even there. But whatever he did, we are grateful. Luke is alive, but he hasn't regained consciousness since then. But according to my grandfather, the mayor of Yulia City, in this case, the Score was upheld. Luke did indeed destroy himself as the Score foretold, but his destruction did not mean that he had to die."

"Teodoro of Yulia City said that? We would indeed be interested in hearing his view of this situation. For now, your words do make sense."

"Grandfather promised to speak with those of the Order about Luke. He didn't wish to see anything happen to Luke because of a mistaken interpretation of the Score."

"So all of you have brought Luke home to his family then. What of the replica?"

"We have found him helpful and trustworthy. Since he used to be one of my brother's God-Generals, he has useful information. His ability to speak with Luke has been a great relief also."

"Is the Order of Lorelei planning something then?"

"I am sure my brother has sinister plans of some sort. However, at this time I do not know what those plans are, your Majesty. We had planned to find out more after leaving here."

"Kimlasca would indeed appreciate your assistance. If the Order plans anything that may be of harm to Kimlasca we definitely want to know about it."

"We will keep your Majesty informed." Jade told him.

"Will the replica aid you if he were to be released?"

"If your Majesty sees fit to release Kiran from the dungeon, he will aid me in stopping whatever sinister plans my brother has." Tear told the King.

"Then an order will be made for his released. My daughter should have calmed down enough by now to see reason. You should take her husband to her. A guard will escort you to her chamber."

"Thank you, your Majesty. You are most gracious." Tear answered.

-----

The guard assigned to take the group to Natalia's chamber stopped upon reaching her door. He knocked once upon the large door and waited a moment before speaking, "Princess, I have some people who wish to speak with you. Your husband is among them, not the replica."

They could hear her through the door, "You may enter, the door is unlocked."

The guard opened the door for them and they entered it. They could see Natalia sitting on a chair in the room, in her arms was a small child wrapped in a pale pink blanket. "Can you explain what you mean about my husband being among you?" She asked.

"Princess, your husband is indeed alive, we brought him back to you at his request." Tear told the girl.

"Then why didn't he say anything earlier?"

"Princess, he cannot. He hasn't awoken since Akzeriuth was destroyed."

"Then how could he make a request of you?"

"He and his replica, Kiran, have an unusual connection and can speak with each other through their minds, so he has been speaking with Luke on our behalf."

"May I see Luke?"

"Of course. We brought him here so you could see him. He will need a great deal of care until he has fully recovered."

"He will have it. I will see to it personally."

"Where should we take him?"

"Make him comfortable on his bed, this is his room also. If necessary, I can sleep elsewhere." She told them, and then to the guard she requested, "Can you assist them?"

"As you wish, Princess." the guard answered. He assisted with removing Luke from the litter and making him comfortable upon the bed. While they did so, Tear and Anise could not help but look at the baby. "Is that Luke's baby?" Tear asked.

"Yes, his daughter."

"She's so cute! What's her name?" Anise asked.

"Evelina Nadine."

"What a pretty name. It means 'a life full of hope' right?"

"It does. Would you like to hold her while I see Luke?"

"I would love to!" Tear exclaimed.

Natalia gently placed Evelina in Tear's arms. She then turned to the guard, "Could you please bring Luke's replica, Kiran was it, up here? I wish to apologize to him."

"Right away, Princess." The guard said as he departed.

"Can I ask all of you for forgiveness for my outburst earlier?"

"Of course we forgive you, Princess. Any of us likely would have felt the same way if it had been us."

"Thank you." She turned towards Luke and walked over to him. "How long has he been like this now?"

"About a week, Princess. Since Akzeriuth's fall." Jade answered.

She sat down on the bed beside Luke. "It is okay to touch him, right?"

"We have not seen any ill effects from doing so and were not advised against it." Jade responded.

Natalia gently placed her hand on Luke's cheek and stroked his face. She could feel tears come to her eyes as she did so. "I hate seeing him like this, but the alternative is too horrible to think about. Has a doctor seen him yet?"

"Yes, Princess. We had a doctor examine him in Yulia City during our short stay. We weren't able to get many answers in that time though, Kiran may know more since he actually spoke with the doctor and took it upon himself to care for Luke."

A knock was heard on the door, "I have the replica as you requested, Princess."

"Send him in, please."

The door opened, admitting Kiran. Natalia stood up and faced him, "Kiran, I wish to apologize for my disgraceful behavior earlier towards you. Can you forgive me?"

"I forgive you, Princess. I do not blame you for being shocked at my appearance."

"Thank you, I also understand I am in your debt for the life of my husband and the wonderful care he has been given."

"No, I was only repaying my own debt to him. Even if that were not so, I could not let him die."

"As I see it, I owe you much. If there is anything I can do for you, just ask."

"All I ask is that Luke recovers."

"If I can make that happen, I will."

_Kiran, can you ask about the baby for me? I want to know if I have a daughter or a son. _

"Princess, Luke is asking me about the baby, he wants to know if he has a son or a daughter."

"So you can indeed speak with him then. Amazing! He has a darling little girl who looks so very much like him that it almost hurt until you came."

"Might I see her?"

"Of course."

Tear handed the little girl to Kiran. Evelina squirmed happily when placed in his arms, almost as if she knew him already and liked him. "She's very beautiful, Princess."

_And I missed her birth. I so wanted to be there for Natalia. I'm glad we chose a girl's name though, and she used the one I picked too. But she is such a beautiful little girl. _

"Luke is sorry he didn't make it home in time for her birth, but he does love his daughter already."

"That is an amazing ability you have, Kiran. Can he see Evelina then through your eyes?"

"He can, he's also glad you used the name he picked for her."

"I wanted to give him a son, but I guess we will have to hope the next one will be a boy."

_I wanted a girl first anyhow. Evelina is perfect in every way. I wish I could hold her myself. _

_You will be able to, and you will hold your very beautiful daughter in your own arms. _

_I hope so. _

"Don't worry, Princess. He tells me he wanted a daughter first."

"He would say that! Thank you for sharing his words, Kiran. It gives me hope that he will come back to me."

Kiran could feel a warm wetness on his arm and then Evelina started screaming at the top of her lungs, startling Kiran.

"I'll take her, she probably needs to be changed, since she only cries when she's hungry or wet." Natalia offered, taking the screaming child from his arms. "Excuse me." she said as she left the room with the upset little girl.

"Aww, she's so cute!" Anise said after Natalia left. I wish I could have held her.

"She is cute. Luke is lucky to have a beautiful, healthy daughter." Tear mentioned.

Jade sighed. "Women and babies are indeed a distraction. As Kiran just saw, they are cute until they start screaming at you. I am ashamed that I ever could have been like that. Oh, sorry, Kiran, even though you should be glad to have never been a baby."

Natalia re-entered the room, forestalling any response from Kiran, this time with another woman who they recognized from their last visit, Luke's mother. "I gave Evelina to her nurse's care for now so we could talk more."

"And I wanted to see Luke and his replica. Thank you for bringing him home, all of you." She told the group. She smiled at Kiran, "It seems I have another son, and I am indeed in your debt already for Luke's life. Thank you Kiran, I would like a chance to get to know you better."

"My lady, I am only a replica of your son, not one of your sons." Kiran objected.

"You carry my blood, even if I did not give birth to you, you are my son. Please, if you can find it in your heart, call me 'Mother'." She told him.

It had been his dearest wish to have a family, but even hearing it from her, he still felt hesitant to accept it. "I really don't know…I never did before have anyone to care about me, much less a family."

"Then maybe someday you can, if you can't find it in your heart to refer to me as your mother yet, then please, call me Susanne. As far as I am concerned though, you are Luke's twin."

"_Are you okay with this, Luke? _

_With you as a brother? I'm very proud to have you as a brother Kiran. Mother did always want another child, so she's probably very happy now. You should be happy too, didn't you want to be a normal boy rather than my replica? _

He couldn't answer Luke's question now, "Luke tells me he is glad that you accept me."

"You can hear him?" Susanne asked, astonished.

"He can. What he said that Luke told him could not have been anything but something Luke had said at that very moment. Kiran, can you let him know that I love him and that he needs to come back to us?"

_Kiran, sorry to make you play messenger. _

_I would rather play messenger than not be able to speak with you _

_You are a wonderful brother, Kiran. Could you tell my mother and Natalia that I love them and will come back to them as soon as I can? _

_I will._

"Princess, Susanne, He says that he loves both of you also and will come back to you as soon as he can."

"Kiran, please, call me Natalia, family shouldn't be so formal. That goes for the rest of you also, as you are friends of Luke's and Kiran's." Natalia told him.

_That reminds me, watch out for Anise. She likes rich men and you don't have anyone. _

_Great, just what I need. _

"Kiran, what are your plans now? Will you be able to stay for some time so we can get a chance to know you?" Susanne asked him.

"Susanne, Natalia, I'm sorry, but I cannot stay long. I cannot let Van get away with what he did to Luke and me."

"Be careful then, please. I don't want to lose either of you. You will visit when you can, right?"

"We promised his Majesty an update as we found out more information, my lady." Tear interjected. "Might we ask a favor of you?"

"Of course, if it is within my power to grant."

"My lady, we suspect that my brother is doing research within Belkend. Since that is a part of your holdings, we were wondering if you might know anything, or even if your husband had any information within his records."

"I would provide such information, but I left all the details of the holdings to a steward after my husband's passing. All of you are welcome to look among his papers in his study in the manor if anything there may be of help to you."

"That would be most helpful, my lady. If you don't mind, we will go look now and leave you with your sons."

"Thank you, Tear. You are most kind. Please take care of my son after you leave."

"I will, I promise."

"Let the White Knight at the manor gate know I sent you. You should have no issue getting in that way." Susanne told her. Tear gave a clumsy curtsy and left with the others, leaving Kiran to his family.

-----

"Colonel, what are we looking for in these records?" Anise asked.

"Let's start by looking for records pertaining to Belkend. Logs of goods going in and out of the city would be helpful. The mayor of the city may also send reports to the Duke, those may be of help. For now just look for anything that has to do with Belkend." Jade explained.

Each of them looked through the numerous papers and files in the room. For some time they all worked in silence concentrating on the task at hand. Then Tear broke the silence by commenting "How cute!"

"What's cute?" Anise asked.

The long haired Oracle Knight held up a paper for Anise to see. It was a photograph of a young boy with longish red hair that was likely Luke as a child. He was with an older woman who appeared to be a slightly younger version of Susanne. Both mother and child we smiling and appeared to be very happy. Duke Fabre was conspicuously absent from the picture of the otherwise happy family. "Wasn't Luke a cute child?"

"He was very cute! Don't you think so Colonel?"

"I think we have better things to be looking for." Jade commented.

"Somehow, I think Luke won't live down this finding." Anise snickered.

"If the picture was actually embarrassing, then it might be different."

"Tear are there more pictures?" Anise asked.

Tear looked through the pile of papers she had found that photograph in, she found one of Luke at an even younger age and he was crying. "There's this one."

"Awww, poor thing. Is that better, Colonel?" Anise asked.

"Anise, we should stop wasting time. It was gracious of the lady of the house to even allow us to do this." Jade admonished.

"Fine." she sulked. Then under her breath she muttered, "Meanie."

"What was that, Anise?" Jade inquired.

"Nothing!" She cheerily said in a singsong voice.

They continued to look through the records in silence. None had any idea of how much time had passed while they looked, it had to have been hours of searching that may well be fruitless, but they had to at least see if there was nothing to be found before they could give up.

"Hmm, this is somewhat interesting." Tear commented.

"What is?" Jade asked.

"It seems to be some files about residents from Hod. This particular one seems to be the most informative. It appears to be about a House called Gardios, most of the house died during the Hod War."

"Most? I had thought all the members of that house were dead after the war? We had no information on any residents having survived the fall of Hod."

"Duke Fabre did not seem to think so. One is listed as 'status unknown'." She held up a picture of a five year old boy with short blonde hair. "He's the only son of the house. When all its members died, his body was never found. Duke Fabre appeared to be trying to find out if he may still be alive, and if so, his whereabouts."

"Whose whereabouts?" Kiran interjected all of a sudden from behind them, surprising Anise and Tear.

"Don't sneak up on us like that, Kiran!" Anise exclaimed.

"We were speaking of the heir to House Gardios, Kiran." Tear mentioned.

"Interesting. I recall someone using the name Gardios. It was a woman though. All of you likely have met her, she's a God-General."

"Which God-General is this?" Tear asked.

"Cantabile. There was one time where she introduced herself as Solange of House Gardios."

"Hmm, she can't be the heir, since the heir is male. He's also blonde, and she isn't. All the other members shown here appear to have blonde hair also, so she can't even be his sister or relative. Tear, might I read over those files?" Jade asked.

"Of course, Colonel."

He went through all the pages contained in the file. "It seems Duke Fabre came to an interesting conclusion. Look at this." He placed a piece of paper on the ground so all the others could see it. The paper held two photographs. One was of the five year old heir, the other was of an older boy who looked familiar to them. Placed like that, the resemblance between the two was amazing, it was indeed very likely that they were the same person. "We have a picture of Gailardia Galan Gardios, heir to house Gardios, supposedly dead at age five, killed by Duke Fabre and his men his body never found. Next to it is a picture of Guy Cecil, servant to House Fabre and also the one who murdered Duke Fabre and also happens to be the God-General Nepenthes. The resemblance he holds to the young heir is striking enough that they are very likely the same person. It appears Duke Fabre came to that conclusion also."

"So Duke Fabre was murdered out of revenge for killing the Gardios house then." Tear concluded.

"Exactly. This file shows that Duke Fabre indeed was finding out some things that the Oracle Knights did not wish him to know. We should keep looking, there could be more information."

Kiran had been silent this whole time and he finally noticed the connection. "Nepenthes and Cantabile must be married, that is the connection between them."

"What?!" Tear exclaimed.

"Cantabile used the Gardios name. We can tell from these files that she isn't related to them, so she must have married one of them. She also was extremely upset when Nepenthes was captured by Luke. She was the one who masterminded his escape, because she didn't want him to die. She claimed at the time it was because replacing him would not be possible now. But that didn't make complete sense. Her being married to him explains her reaction perfectly."

"Two of the God-Generals are married to each other?! How can that even be possible?" Tear exclaimed.

"All it takes is two willing people and someone to perform a marriage." Jade pointed out.

"But such personal interactions between two of their rank are very much frowned upon. Isn't it the same in the Malkuth Military?"

"Usually they are. A common rule though is to just not get caught. Nepenthes and Cantabile appear to have been following this. Even Kiran didn't know until he saw further evidence, it is obvious both of them have been very discreet about their relationship. We should remember this information, it could very well be used against them, especially considering Cantabile's reaction to Nepenthes' sentence of death."

"Agreed." Tear said. "Shall we keep looking to see what else we can find?"

"We should. Duke Fabre seemed to be doing some very interesting investigations, and we know the Commandant wouldn't let any Oracle Knight, much less a God-General go unpunished unless there was a reason, right? The whole Order looks back because of one criminal among it." Anise commented.

"Indeed. So let's see what else we can find."

Each of them continued to look through the files and records for anything that could be of use to them. With Kiran's help, they were able to get through it much faster.

Kiran came across a small book after a time. Upon opening it, he could see that it was most likely a journal. The handwriting within it appeared the same as the other files written in the Duke's own hand. It must have been his personal journal.

Kiran skimmed through the entries, they started years back Duke Fabre was not exactly the type to regularly write in his journal it appeared, sometimes months would pass before he wrote again.

The initial entries dealt mostly with the man's guilt over doing his duty for his country in fighting wars against Malkuth. He felt the constant war between the two kingdoms was only tearing a greater rift between the kingdoms and the more blood he and others shed, the less likely a lengthy peace would be able to come. He didn't like killing those who he was ordered to fight, but as long as the two countries continued to fight each other, he would have to continue to do his duty for his country. As the years went on, Duke Fabre more often mentioned his sense of dread as the year ND2018 came closer. He knew that was the year the Score predicted his son would die. Even though he tried to fight it, he had grown to care about the boy and was very proud of him. 'A parent should not outlive his child.' The Duke said at one point. Unless he died in some battle, he would outlive his only son, and that was a cause for much grief.

_Luke, are you able to see what I am reading? _

_Yeah, but I don't quite believe it. Father always was distant to me, he didn't show he cared about me at all and if anything acted like he was always disappointed in me. Van acted more like a father than my own father did. _

_I wonder, did he immerse himself in his duty for his country so that he could not think about what was to come? _

_I doubt it. _

_Or maybe it was to keep distance between you. The less he saw you, the less temptation there was to care about you. _

_That sounds more like it could be it. _

_At least he did care, even if he didn't show it in a way you understood. Until I met you, there was no one. And Mother seems like a wonderful woman who has a great wealth of love to give to her sons. _

_Yes, she is a wonderful mother. If only she wasn't ill so much, she would likely have had a whole houseful of children to love, and not one of them would have felt neglected by her. I just wish all of us could have been a family, but that's not possible now. _

_Let's read more, ok? _

Kiran continued to read the journal. It started to speak of strange research going on in the Fon Machine lab and that many Oracle Knights have started to go in and out of the city, along with the lab's researchers.

"Colonel, can you make any sense of this? In here Duke Fabre speaks of having seen 'a grown man who could barely walk or talk, like a baby, but in an adult's body.'"

"Hmm, that sounds like they were pursing fomicry research, and on living creatures, which is banned. It seems you are not the only replica in existence. Those Duke Fabre mentioned must have been newly made replicas. Does Duke Fabre mention more on the subject?"

"At first he thought nothing of it, it was too strange to make sense of, maybe those people had some sort of damage done to their brains, and there was a reputed doctor in Belkend. But as he saw more of those people, he began to wonder more and took to trying to overhear conversations from the Oracle Knights who were coming and going more often."

"It seemed some of the replicas didn't make it, as some faces he commented on not seeing, but others eventually recovered from whatever problems they had. He saw those among the other Knights."

"He is likely speaking of the making of unstable replicas. Many replicas break apart shortly after they are made, as Seventh Fonons often are unstable. However using other fonons in the process makes an even more unstable replica that can be dangerous."

"Then he mentions overhearing a conversation about 'a project to replace someone of importance with one of them, but it wasn't yielding good results yet. Six had been made and disposed of already into Mt. Zaleho. There is only time for one more try.'"

"Hmm, who could that have been? How long ago was that entry?"

"About two years ago. About a year later he overhead a conversation about a God-General being 'one of them' I gather 'them' is referring to replicas."

"So it seems rumors did exist about you, Kiran, despite the efforts to make sure you were known to very few."

"I guess so." He kept on reading. "He saw me! The very last entry mentions the arrival of an unknown God-General. His face and hair were covered, but at one point, they slipped off and he caught a glimpse of my hair."

"When was this entry?"

"About a month ago."

"Right before his death. It makes sense now, someone must have known he saw you and even if he didn't do so right away, he would eventually find out who Van replicated. With the rest of the information Duke Fabre found out, and Van's being close to the family, it isn't a surprise the Order had him silenced, and by the one who had waited years for revenge."

"It does make sense. I wonder if the replacement of the important person was Kiran's replacement of Luke in Akzeriuth?" Tear wondered.

"No, it couldn't be. I was made six years ago and I don't know of any others being made two years ago. It must be another." Kiran explained.

"Knowing what we do, should we go to Belkend? It could be dangerous." Tear inquired.

"We definitely don't want to draw attention to the fact that we know all of this." Jade mentioned.

"Why don't we ask Ion if he knows something more when we go to Daath? Maybe he has heard something in our absence and could give us another idea of where to go next." Anise suggested.

"We do have to go to Daath anyhow, we may as well question Ion while we are there. We will leave tomorrow morning."

-----

The night passed uneventfully for the whole group. It was rather late when they finally finished with going through the records at the Duke's manor, so they opted to stay at the inn, including Kiran.

Kiran slept fitfully and found himself awake much earlier than anyone else. Light had not yet even touched the sky when he woke up. It would likely be hours before anyone else woke up, considering how late they were up, so he decided to take a walk outside to clear his mind of his worries about the near future.

Even though the others accepted him, he was afraid for them. They were all too generous it seemed, and he knew Van wasn't going to give up on him, he needed someone with his abilities too much, since Luke was in no condition to help, and wouldn't help even if he was in the condition to do so., Kiran knew it was only a matter of time before a God-General came for him, if not Van himself. Then there was the Curse Slot, which could very easily be used against him, and he had no idea how to get that removed.

Kiran found himself in the middle levels of Baticul, the area where most of the shops were. While none of the shops were open at this time of day, there were still articles in the windows that he could see. He couldn't help but enjoy the beauty of the handcrafted clothing and jewelry that he saw there.

He found it to be a very nice distraction from his thoughts. He never had before gotten a chance to just enjoy looking at the beauty of an object before. The idea of looking in a shop window for something beautiful, rather than useful, was new to him. If it wasn't for the fact that he had so much to accomplish, he would be happy to settle down in a place like this where people cared about him, and he cared about them also. At the same time though, having those people he cared about in this city made him even more willing to fight to protect them, for his own beliefs, for those who had been wronged by Van, and for those in Akzeriuth who died because of Van's manipulations of him and Luke. When everything was over, then he could come back here and call this place home.

He continued walking aimlessly around the city and eventually found himself in the port. The sun was now just beginning to rise now, and the view of the rising sun over the water was indeed a beautiful sight. Since he still had some time, he found a place to sit and watch the sight, enjoying the fact that he did even have a few moments to enjoy some of the beauty that existed in life.

_I always did enjoy looking out over the water too, Kiran. The sunset is just as beautiful and I never grew tired of looking at it. _

_ I imagine it is quite the sight. You sure are awake early, Luke. _

_ Does it really make a difference though for one who doesn't truly awaken? I can't open my eyes, I still have to use yours, and soon you will be leaving. _

_ To me it makes a difference. I do find it good that we can span this much distance. _

_ You will keep in touch if we can continue to talk like this no matter how far you go, right? _

_ Of course. Even if we can't, I can always come into your mind when I sleep. I will definitely keep you informed. _

While he watched and spoke with Luke, a ship had arrived in the port. It appeared to be the first ferry of the day from Kaitzur. The ship docked and let off its few passengers.

Among those passengers, Kiran saw Van. What was he doing here? Did he know Luke lived and came to finish the job? No, Van wouldn't be that rash, Luke was too well guarded in the castle.

_Find a hiding place, Kiran, fast! _

He didn't need Luke's prompting to know that was what he needed to do. It may already be too late, but he had to get out of sight. His own abrupt departure when Van took him from Akzeriuth likely will earn him severe punishment. He knew his death would not be the punishment, at least not now, not until Van no longer had need of him. He quickly found someplace to get out of sight.

He didn't get out of the way fast enough. Van caught a glimpse of Kiran's distinctive red hair and black uniform. The Oracle Knight's Commandant walked over to where he had seen Kiran last and found him, "Why are you hiding yourself from me, Kiran?"

Kiran grimaced. He had hoped he hadn't been seen, but it seemed he hoped for too much. "I'm not returning to Daath with you."

"Oh? Then have you forgotten your duty to me? You wouldn't even be alive if it hadn't been for me." Van reminded him.

"I have not forgotten, but you broke your word when you forced me to hurt Luke."

"That was Sync's doing, not mine."

"It was on your orders. The day Akzeriuth fell was the last day I followed your orders."

"I don't approve of your resignation. You will return to Daath. An escort has been dispatched for you already. You have until their arrival to remember your duty. Serve me well, and you will receive no punishment for this."

"And if I don't?"

"You are considered a traitor until you return. If need be, your escort will bring you back by force. Anyone who helps you will die. Make the right decision and no one more will die because of you." Van threatened before he walked away from Kiran.

Kiran didn't say a word to the departing Commandant. How could he answer to that? If the others helped him, they could very well die for him, but why was he allowed to walk away for now?

It wasn't too hard to come to a conclusion, Van didn't want to cause trouble here. Whoever had been dispatched would not act until he had left the city. Then if any were with him, if they defended him, they would get hurt and could very well die.

He knew that he only had one choice: when he met up with the escort, he would have to go back willingly. He could find a way to leave again, but once he did, he would have to work alone.

-----

The sun had fully risen when Kiran arrived back at the inn. The others still were fast asleep, but would likely awaken soon. He wanted to make sure to say goodbye to his newfound family, since he really doubted he could come back soon. So the others in the group wouldn't worry if they woke up before he returned, he left a short note explaining where he had gone.

He walked to the castle and then to Luke and Natalia's chamber. He knocked first on the door to make sure someone was awake, as it was still a bit early, and Natalia may very well still be asleep. The door opened right away, "Kiran, what are you doing here so early?" She asked as she let him in.

"I have to be leaving today and wanted to say goodbye to all of you."

"You're leaving so soon?"

"I must. The last thing I want to do is cause trouble for any of you."

"Why would you think that you would cause trouble?"

"I wasn't exactly given permission to leave the Oracle Knights to be here, but I can't stay after what I was forced to do to Luke, and I won't let anyone else get hurt because of me."

"It is admirable to think that way, but if you don't want to return, you don't have to, you would be protected here."

"But I can't stay here and do nothing."

"You want to avenge Luke, don't you? If you must, promise to keep in touch, please?"

"If I can. Can I see Evelina before I go?"

"Of course." Natalia walked over to the cradle and picked up the amazingly quiet baby and placed her gently in Kiran's arms. "I do hope she will behave this time."

He smiled at the adorable baby. Luke was so lucky to have a beautiful daughter with the woman he loves. "She's so cute that I couldn't be mad at her if she didn't. You and Luke are so lucky to have her."

Natalia smiled. "Maybe someday you will find someone for yourself."

A knock could be heard on the door, "Natalia, are you awake?" Susanne's voice could be heard from outside.

"Come in Aunt Susanne, you have good timing, Kiran had just stopped by to say goodbye" Natalia told her.

Susanne entered the room and saw Kiran holding the baby. "You're leaving us already, Kiran? I had hoped you would stay at least a few more days."

"I must go, if I stay, people could get hurt because of me. I won't allow that."

"Kiran, it hurts just as much for you to leave us." Susanne told him.

"But if I leave, those who might harm me won't harm anyone here."

"If you must. Just make sure nothing happens to you, I can't bear to have another son get hurt."

"I will be careful." Kiran handed Evelina back to Natalia. "I must be going now."

"Kiran, Luke always says he's too old for hugs, but do you mind?" Susanne asked him. "I never got to see you until now, so we have much to make up for."

He hugged her in response to her question. "I don't see why Luke would object, but I never had anyone care about me before. Please take good care of Luke for me."

"We will." Natalia assured him.

"If love for him was enough, he would have recovered already. Take care, both of you."

-----

Kiran opened the door to the room they had at the inn to find everyone else awake now and almost ready to leave. In fact, he almost ran right into Tear who had been on her way out. "Kiran! I was just on my way to go find you. We are going to be leaving shortly, are you ready to go?"

"I am, I said my goodbyes to my family now, I didn't mean to worry all of you."

"It wasn't that, we just need to be leaving." Jade informed him.

"Then let's go if all of you are ready."

They checked out of the inn and left the city, heading in the direction of the Tartarus. When the Tartarus finally came into view, they could see two very familiar and unwanted people waiting along with three birdlike monsters. Even from the distance they could tell it was God-Generals Nepenthes and Cantabile.

Of all the God-Generals Van could have sent out, it was no surprise that he sent these two out. It also confirmed Kiran's opinion of why Van didn't do anything in Baticul, these two would indeed get the job done, whether Kiran went willingly or not.

They moved off the path they had traveled to some cover before they could be seen to come up with a plan. Kiran knew that a plan was not going to help them though, he had seen these two in battle many times. Individually Nepenthes and Cantabile were indeed quite formidable, but put together they were deadly.

"They are here for me. Van is forcing me to return."

"How do you know?" Tear asked.

"I saw Van in Baticul and was told an escort had been dispatched for me. I will go with them willingly."

"Kiran, do you wish to return with them?" Anise asked Kiran.

"I have to."

"But do you want to?" Tear inquired.

"No, but…"

"No buts. If you don't want to go back, we'll help you." Tear assured him.

"Yeah, you don't have to go back." Anise declared.

Kiran sighed. "So you are going to insist on fighting them?"

"If that is what we must do." Tear told him.

"Kiran, what do you think their orders are?" Jade inquired.

"I know what their orders are. To bring the traitor back to Daath. If I refuse, they have orders to bring me back by force. Anyone who assists me will die for doing so. Do you think I want that?"

"You underestimate us if you think we would die so easily." Jade remarked with a grin.

"Actually, he doesn't, he knows his comrades rather well, don't you Kiran? You always were a smart one considering where you came from." A familiar voice said from behind them, causing each of them to turn around quickly with swords drawn, they saw both Cantabile and Nepenthes standing before them. "But not smart enough to realize we saw you already and won't let you get away, traitor."

"Kiran isn't going back, Nepenthes!" Anise declared.

"Oh really? So the four of you really think you can kill us? That is what it would take to stop us. Kiran, tell them how many times we have been defeated."

"None at all." Kiran answered, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to give himself up.

"So are all of you prepared to die to keep him with you, or will you willingly give him up to us? He won't be hurt if he goes willingly." Cantabile explained.

"No! I won't allow you to hurt any of them, I will go!" Kiran declared.

"Kiran, do you honestly think we have no chance?" Tear asked him.

"I know you have no chance, but all of you are welcome to try to defeat us where all others have failed." The blonde haired God-General laughed. "I have been wanting to try out this sword, you remember it Kiran? You were the one who got it for me. I hate to hurt you when I owe you so much, but if you insist on fighting us, you blood will suffice nicely for it to taste."

"Tear, don't think that because you were my student that I will go easy on you. If you insist on defending this traitor, I consider you a traitor also, you will die if you can't defeat us."

"I would expect no less of you Cantabile." Tear told her.

"Then all of you give us everything you have if you want Kiran."

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	21. The Flip Side of the Coin

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Again, apologies for how long this took, I usually write scenes at work and type them there as much as possible, but work became very busy during the last month, now that I am a bit more used to it, I can get more done. And I admit, it turned out to be longer than I thought, I hope everyone enjoys the focus on the Oracle Knights for part of the chapter. I had a lot of fun writing some of those scenes, and if anyone has things they would love to see of that nature, I would be happy to include anything I can fit into the plot somehow.

Also, have some bad news and good news to give. I'll start with the bad, because the good won't make sense until I give the bad. The bad news is that this will be the last update until December. I have signed up for NanNoWriMo this year and this will cause the amount of updates to go down.

But the good news is, my NanNo entry is the next part of this fic (since it does end an arc and start leading into the next one well, it works). So that means that the closer I come to being a winner, the more you guys will get in December. If I do make the goal of 50,000 words in November, that is somewhere between six and ten chapters. And my beta isn't entering, so she can get me edits throughout the month, which means updates will come soon after November ends, though I do not guarantee one on December 1st (but no later than the 5th, unless my work schedule changes again). So I hope that the larger amount of updates in December will make up for the lack in November.

And I wish to thank Trystle for the suggestion for the second to last scene involving the God-Generals, and darkangel for the idea on how to get Mieu back into the story (I had almost given up hope on that, but her suggestion helped me make the last scene better). I also wish to thank those in the Asch fanclub on the Tales forum for suggestions on what the God-Generals wear for PJs (though the Jade plushie was my idea).

* * *

It was a good thing that Kiran and the others had their weapons ready, since they were attacked almost immediately by Nepenthes and Cantabile. Both of their attackers were very fast, perhaps not quite as fast as Sync, but with both of them at that speed, it was going to be a much harder battle than the fight with Sync and Largo had been. 

Cantabile quickly moved out of sight of the group by going up into a nearby tree. She readied herself to cast a fonic arte while her partner distracted the others.

Jade noticed that Cantabile immediately slipped out of sight and was readying her self to cast some sort of arte while her partner attempted to distract them. He couldn't identify the target, but he could at least force her into view. If he could hurt her somehow, all the better. Considering the relationship between the two, doing so would likely affect her partner as well.

The Malkuth Colonel knew that these two would make it a very difficult battle, even _if_ everything went as planned, which he knew from experience never happened. He came up with the simplest plan possible for now, the simpler the plan, the less likely anything would go drastically wrong. He would deal with Cantabile and her casting, the others would distract Nepenthes and keep him away. He relayed this information to the others as best as he could without letting on to their enemy what they planned.

Nepenthes laughed at this, "All of you are taking me on? Don't forget about Cantabile."

"O violent torrent, Splash!" Jade smirked. "No, I don't think we forgot her."

A large stream of water came pouring down upon the tree Cantabile was in just as a large ball of fire came from it. It was good timing on her part, finishing her cast just before the branch she was on gave way from all the excess weight. She had no problem landing on two feet when the branch gave out, it was as if she had expected that to happen all along.

The ball of fire Cantabile had produced narrowly missed its target, instead hitting the tree behind Jade. Strange, he thought, he didn't even have to try to dodge it. His explanation for this came when Anise yelled, "Colonel, watch out!" as she fended off an attack upon herself.

Jade moved away in just enough time to avoid being hit by the falling tree behind him. He had to admit, he was impressed by her skill, that was indeed a good trick. She would definitely make this battle quite interesting. Both of them began casting again.

"Wow, Cantabile sure is mean to her husband, making him attack three while she goes after the Colonel," Anise remarked.

"What did you say?" Nepenthes bellowed to the young girl who shrank away in terror to avoid being grabbed by the blonde haired God-General who just chose her as his exclusive target.

"Nothing!" she declared as she scooted away from her attacker as fast as Tokunaga would allow her to. It wasn't nearly fast enough, he got a hold of the arm of the large doll and pulled on it so hard that she was surprised he didn't tear it off. The young girl went flying forward landing hard onto the ground.

Anise could feel a heavy weight come down on her back. "What was that you said earlier?"

The blonde God-General got shoved away from the young girl by the former God-General, "Get off her, she doesn't know anything."

"And neither do you, traitor. What lies did you tell them?"

Jade had finished casting the arte he prepared earlier and it missed Cantabile as she darted towards Kiran. "Yes, what lies did you tell them?"

Jade signaled to Tear, he could tell Kiran and Anise would need backup. "Change your target, Tear."

Tear moved closer to Jade to get a better view of her new target, which would be Cantabile. She began singing a fonic hymn in hopes that she could get Cantabile out of the fight and they could all concentrate on her husband.

Kiran pointed his sword at Nepenthes, "I won't let you hurt them!"

Nepenthes smirked and held his sword to Kiran's throat, "They won't get hurt if you come with us, and neither will you."

A knife that came from Tear's direction hit Cantabile in the shoulder, causing her to scream in pain "That's your answer! We won't give him up to you!"

Nepenthes scowled at Kiran, "Fine, then I will start by killing your little friend here, then maybe you will realize we are serious."

Anise stood up and readied herself to defend his attack. Tokunaga was too far away from her now, but if she ran fast enough, she could get to him. "You won't get me that easily, murderer!"

"Don't be so sure about that! Void Tempest!" he yelled.

Anise didn't get away nearly fast enough and found herself hit by his attack. Tear began casting a fonic arte to heal the wound Anise had just been given, it seemed Cantabile had the same idea; they finished casting at the same time, "O healing power...First Aid!"

Anise's wound closed, but it did still pain her as she continued to try and run towards Tokunaga. At the same time, Cantabile moved towards Tear and Jade to attack them while Nepenthes concentrated solely on Anise and kept an eye on Kiran, he knew the boy tended towards more sneaky moves, Cantabile did teach him well, but only what he needed to survive as a God-General.

Anise's blonde haired attacker closed in on her quickly. Kiran recognized what he was planning from previous battles, he would always try to get his victim down and then take them out fast. At minimum, the target would end up incapacitated, but most of the time they ended up dead. He couldn't let that happen to the girl.

He ran to block the path of his former comrade. "I won't let you hurt them! Raging Blast!"

The flash of light the came towards his attacker was easily dodged. "Kiran, I thought you were better than that, seems you are as pathetic as your original."

"Luke is not pathetic!" Kiran yelled.

"Kiran, don't let him get to you." Tear admonished.

"Oh? Did I find a weakness then? Is he why you turned traitor?"

"It's none of your damn business!"

"Your reasons may not be, but bringing you back is. Either come peacefully or stop interfering!"

While the two had talked, Cantabile had moved behind Tear, catching her off guard. She had Tear grappled and a sword to her throat. "Kiran, you will come peacefully, or I kill Tear right here and now. One slice would be enough, and I won't hesitate just because she was my student, or because she is the Commandant's sister."

"Fine. I'll go with you. Let her go."

Cantabile kept her hold on Tear. "Nepenthes, restrain him so he won't escape us after we let them go."

Kiran felt a sharp jab to his shoulder, then he felt another blow to his head, before everything went black he heard, "That's for what your friend did, traitor."

The others watched on as the blonde God-General retrieved his prize. "I have him, you can let her go now, Cantabile." he told his companion as he started to walk away towards the bird monsters they had by the Tartarus.

"Tear, good hit, but don't think about pursuing us. The same goes for the rest of you." She shoved Tear to the ground and plunged the dagger into the ground next to her before she ran to catch up with her husband, who was already seated on one of the flying monsters with the unconscious Kiran.

-----

Kiran opened his eyes and found himself somewhere that was familiar and not familiar at the same time. He looked up and saw that Luke was with him, and perfectly well and awake. That more than anything else told him where he must be, he must have fallen unconscious and this was either a dream or he was in most likely Luke's mind, since he could see that it was light out.

"What happened to you Kiran? You just suddenly appeared here." Luke asked him.

He sat up from his former position which happened to be with his head laying in Luke's lap. "I admit, I am not exactly sure."

"You're hiding something from me, please, tell me."

"Two God-Generals arrived to take me back to Daath."

"And you fought them?"

"At everyone else's insistence. If it were left to me, I would have gone to prevent them from getting hurt."

"Kiran, you are always the kind one I have noticed. Did it not go well then?"

"They came very close to taking Tear's life. I gave in at that point and that is the last I can recall before finding myself here with you."

"Liar, you're still hiding something, I can tell. You would have left the connection up if you weren't hiding something from me."

"Damn it, Luke. You're too perceptive for your own good."

"What else do I have to do with myself? I can't help you and I have too much time to think about the danger you are in."

"If I could trade places with you, I would."

"I would not wish this on even my worst enemy, Kiran, it's just too awful"

"Are you sure? It would be easier on us to deal with Van if he were in your condition."

Luke smiled a bit. "It definitely would, but I'm not capable of being that cruel. Now stop changing the subject and tell me what you are hiding."

"I have to go back to service with Van, he won't let me go."

"I didn't expect he would. But you don't want to go back, right?"

"I don't want to, but if he's going to hurt people to ensure my compliance, I really don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Is that what he did? Threatened the others?"

"He sure doesn't seem to have any problems with killing his own sister to get me to cooperate."

"I can't believe that, even of him. So he attacked you?"

"He sent his two most efficient God-Generals to do that bit of dirty work, but they had orders that they could kill or harm anyone besides me. I know you are familiar with their skills, one of them knows you in particular, since he said I'm 'as pathetic as my original.'"

"Who said that?"

"I think you know, only one of them has a personal gripe with you."

"Damn him! Now he's bringing you into an issue he has with Father."

"He's always had a problem with me. I don't mind him as much, at least he's honest with his hatred of me and has some reason behind it. His wife isn't so bad."

"Wait a second, he's married?"

"We found out that he's married to God-General Cantabile."

"That poor woman, unless she's just like him. I can't imagine being married to a murderer like him."

"She's actually a relatively decent person, but to each their own tastes. I don't have room to talk, since I helped her free him."

"We discussed that already, I don't blame you for following orders at that time. And I won't blame you now for doing what you must, unless you give up and don't even try to stop Van anymore. You'll find a way to leave again, even if I have to recover and come rescue you myself."

"I like that idea, you're welcome to come to my rescue."

"I'll do what I can, but don't expect anything too soon."

"Just do your best. I can wait for as long as it takes for you to come for me. Who knows, maybe my being here will help in some way. I may be able to find out more about Van's plans by being a part of them and maybe even stop them from within."

"He may be expecting that, be careful, please. I don't want to lose my brother just after meeting him."

"I'll be careful. Anyway, I must go." Kiran stood up and walked over to the wall that separated their minds. When he reached it, for the first time he noticed the actual surroundings, besides the fact that it was daytime. He could see small shoots of grass poking their way out of the ground, it wasn't enough to cover the ground yet, but it was a wonderful start.

Then for the first time since everything happened, Kiran smiled with real happiness.

-----

Kiran's eyes opened right as he and his escort landed in from of the cathedral in Daath. Cantabile dismounted and came to assist her companion with his burden.

"Kiran, you aren't going to get away. Are you going to come of your own free will like you said you would, or should I be tying you up to make sure you don't escape us?"

Between the loss of blood from his rather painful shoulder wound which had not yet been healed and the fact that his head hurt like crazy, even if they gave him a chance to escape, he sure couldn't take it. "I'm not going to run away."

"We should get him healed before he reports in." Cantabile suggested. "Look at him, he can barely even stand up."

"Later, we need to report in first."

"I'll be fine, Cantabile. I just need a few moments to steady myself."

They let the birds depart. Arietta had trained them well and they would go to wherever she kept them when they were not in use. They opened the large doors leading to the Cathedral's very large main hall. Once inside the heart of the large maze of rooms and hallways that made up the headquarters of the Order of Lorelei, they saw one of their comrades speaking with a low ranked knight they knew to be that particular God-General's assistant . Cantabile groaned upon seeing the two, Nepenthes, however, could not hide the smirk that came across his face upon seeing God-General Dist with his overly loyal assistant, Reiner.

Overly loyal was a nice way to describe Reiner. The silly boy did have a tendency to be only too eager to please his superior officers. The rest of the God-Generals tended to take advantage of the poor boy's eagerness to please and asked favors of him rather often. It was indeed a great source of amusement to give the young knight so much to do that it was difficult to finish his own duties, if he even did. However, this didn't upset Reiner, he loved any bit of praise he could get. Dist however, would be fuming at the others for what they did, which never seemed to stop it from happening.

"Cantor Reiner, good to see you. I wanted to thank you for the good work you did for me." the blonde haired Nepenthes told the young knight while still unable to hide his own smirk. "So, have you perhaps figured out the secret of how his chair flies?"

"Th-thank you God-General. I am glad to be of service. Unfortunately, no, I haven't figured out that secret and even if I did, I would not be permitted to tell it." The young knight beamed at the praise bestowed upon him.

"Damn you Nepenthes! Reiner is my assistant! You have no right to order him around like he's your assistant! And you won't be touching my chair!" Dist fumed.

"You're right, Dist. We don't have that right." Cantabile mentioned. "That doesn't mean we can't make a request of your assistant. Is it our fault he can't seem to refuse when he does have the right to do so? Perhaps the two of you need to have a word."

Dist hung his head at being chastised by Cantabile of all people. "You're right, I will have a talk with him."

"So, Dist, you still playing with those broken fon machines? Such a waste of Reiner's talent and dedication. Would you consider letting him transfer to Special Ops?"

Reiner beamed again at the praise he was just given and looked at Dist expectantly. "No way. I won't let you abuse him, Nepenthes."

"Then how about 5th division? Cantabile could use someone with his talent."

"I need him too much, it would take too long to train another to take his place."

"Interesting how your response changes when it's Cantabile, is there a reason why?"

Dist's face turned a bright reddish color, "No reason at all!"

"Sure there's no reason. She's too good for either of us anyhow. So, what does Reiner do for you that makes him so irreplaceable? Does he pick up your broken pieces when you break something again?"

"We are doing very important research that will benefit the entire Order of Lorelei!"

"Sure you are. Come on, Cantabile, we still need to go report in."

"Damn you Nepenthes! I hate you! I will be putting this in my revenge journal!" he shouted to the three departing God-General's backs.

Reiner cowered in fear at seeing Dist this upset. He knew what was coming to him now, Dist would rant and rave for hours about how Nepenthes succeeded again in making him look a fool. It would be even worse this time, because he always seemed to get upset when made to look a fool in front of Cantabile. That was the only thing Reiner hated about his position, he was always the one Dist ranted to. He somehow doubted any other God-General ranted and raved like Dist did.

It was definitely going to be a long day. Why it was that being made to look like a fool in front of Cantabile was something upset Dist so much did indeed escape the young oracle knight, unless...no, it couldn't be. The eccentric God-General never showed having any use for women, if anything, he seemed to be in love with Jade Curtiss. Reiner sighed as he prepared himself for the very long day and the excessive amount of ranting and yelling that would now be a part of it.

-----

Kiran was all but dragged to an office he knew belonged to Sync. It was not at all out of the ordinary for the God-Generals to report directly to him from time to time, in fact he was the first in line to be reported to if the Commandant was away, with Legretta being the next. That still didn't stop Kiran from feeling a sense of dread over what was going to happen next to him.

He knew that Sync could control him via the Curse Slot, and his recent actions in trying to leave the Oracle Knights meant that was more likely to be a measure used to ensure his compliance. That was why Kiran felt dread, he knew something was going to happen to him, if not now, then soon.

They entered the office to find Sync busy with a pile of paperwork. How he was able to read well enough to fill in those forms with that mask of his was always a question among the others, but he did get his work done, and he sure never took that mask off. It was a standing joke among the younger knights that he slept wearing it.

Sync looked up when he heard the door open, "Nepenthes, Cantabile, good work. Did he put up any resistance?"

"He did, but we handled it without a problem. Kiran did receive a minor injury to his shoulder, but nothing that can't be healed."

Sync looked at the group, he noted that both Kiran and Cantabile appeared to have received injuries, and so very similar. He suspected that something was odd here, and noted that piece of information for future use. "I see Cantabile got injured also, usually both of you are better than that."

The blonde haired God-General shrugged, "Even the best make mistakes, I am sure you are well aware of that, since you lost to them."

"Don't bring that up ever again!" Sync shouted before continuing with his instructions, "Anyway, both of you are excused until first light. You will receive your orders then. Could one of you stop by the healers and have a healer sent for Kiran to wait in his quarters? I also advise Cantabile be seen by them. Kiran, you stay here, we have some things to discuss."

The other two God-Generals departed to do as they were commanded, leaving Kiran alone with the masked God-General. "Well, Kiran, it seems the Commandant is very displeased with your recent actions."

"I expected as much. What is to be my punishment then, Chief of Staff?"

"It is a lot more lenient than what is usually given to traitors like yourself. You do know what that usually is, correct?"

"Yes, sir. Traitors are put to death."

"You are correct. Then you will understand the favor the Commandant has granted you. Consider it a reprieve, nothing more, since there is a stipulation to it."

"A stipulation, sir?"

"Yes. From this moment forward, you have been stripped of your position as God-General. You and your men are being transferred to the other divisions. You have already been transferred to 3rd Division. You will report directly to me as my own assistant."

Damn, just like Van to make it appear like he was in the clear. Death was actually preferable to this. Being in such close proximity to Sync meant he could make good use of the Curse Slot if the need arose. It would be nearly impossible to escape and if he didn't follow orders, he likely would be forced to, no matter how detestable the orders might be. "You mentioned a stipulation, what was that?"

"As I stated, this is only a reprieve. You are still under a sentence of death. If you perform well with me, this sentence will be lifted. Otherwise, it still stands and will be carried out at some point in the future. Do you understand this?"

"Yes, sir."

"You have been granted the rest of the day off. There should be a healer waiting for you by now, get your injuries healed. You are to report to me at first light for your duties. I advise turning in early, I heard a rumor of a fire drill tonight. You are dismissed."

Kiran left the office with a lot on his mind. He definitely did not like this one bit. All he could do was leave at his first opportunity, even if that meant that if or when he was found he would indeed be killed.

-----

Nepenthes walked into his wife's personal quarters. He very much hated the fact that though Van was kind enough to assign them close to each other, it was just among the many rules that they could not openly associate with each other beyond working together on missions. In the parts of the Order that didn't have as much of a strict ranking system there were families, but no matter how much they asked for a transfer or resignation, he and his wife were refused for the time being. At least now things were in motion and it was a matter of time, though it didn't make him feel much better about having to leave his son to be raised by servants and he and his wife got very little time together.

He took a sharp intake of breath upon opening the door and seeing her partially clad back. Even after the years that he had known her, which included over a year of marriage, her never failed to find her beautiful, and more so after she gave him their son. He could see her looking in a mirror at something, he assumed she was examining her shoulder, since she hated having to visit the healers unless she absolutely had to. "Would you like some help?"

"Please, it seems the worst of it is on the back, though she did aim well."

He looked closer at her shoulder, frowning at the gash in her shoulder, "You're right, though it is beginning to heal, thanks to your arte earlier. It still could stand to be cleaned up."

She handed him a damp cloth with her other hand, "Use this."

He gently cleaned her shoulder of the dried blood that was there. "It'll likely leave a scar unless you finish the healing off soon."

"I would prefer not to. It's not like I don't have enough scars already."

"Don't even say what you are thinking. You are beautiful, scars and all." He slipped off her eyepatch. "Though if the person who did this was still alive, I would kill him."

She smiled, "I am sure you would. Did you mean what you said to Dist earlier?"

"About neither of us deserving you? Every word. Dist definitely doesn't deserve you, and I don't think I do either, though I am happy to spend every day to make myself deserving of you."

"You are wonderful the way you are. I couldn't ask for a better husband and father for our son. Could you stay here with me tonight? I can't stand the idea of being alone another night."

He smiled, whenever she asked that, it meant more than sleeping would be going on. "I definitely can't refuse that. I have missed being able to wake up with you in my arms. It won't hurt your shoulder though, would it?"

"Even if you did, it's not enough for me to want to be alone. Just help me bandage it and it should be fine." She handed him some bandages also. "I can't seem to reach it well."

He secured the bandages she gave him to the wound on her shoulder, making sure it was completely covered and not likely to be loosened in her sleep, or by doing anything else, "Is that too tight?"

"No, that's just fine, thank you."

He swept up her hair and planted a kiss to the back of her neck, which caused her to close her eyes. He withdrew from kissing for a moment, "No, don't close your eyes, I want you to be able to see yourself as I see you."

"But..."

He finished removing the tunic she wore beneath the tabard she had already removed completely. "No buts, we have all night, you can have your way with me when I am done." He untied the cloth she used to secure her breasts. "For now, let me take good care of you, and make sure you didn't sustain any other injuries, then you can check me for any hidden injuries."

She smiled at his broad hint about his plans for her. She knew this was indeed going to be an interesting night.

-----

Hours passed and the entirety of the Order of Lorelei was awoken by alarms blaring. There were definitely many people upset at having their precious hours of sleep interrupted by yet another fire alarm that was likely just another drill to make sure they were ready for anything.

Cantabile awoke in the arms of her husband, both of them clad only in the sparse blankets covering them. She had expected someday something like this would happen, so she actually was somewhat prepared for it. They rarely got warning as to when these nightly drills were going to occur, since it was a policy that they should be prepared for anything at any time. She made her way out of bed and grabbed a bathrobe she kept hanging up in case someone did come barging in at some ungodly hour like this, since she usually slept in the nude anyhow. She put it on and tied the belt securely around her waist.

Nepenthes yawned not quite awake yet, since they only got to sleep maybe an hour ago at most. Then he heard the alarm soon after. He felt a bathrobe land in his lap. "We don't have time to dress, it's bad enough that someone likely will see you come out of my room."

He put it on and tied the belt securely. It was a bit short for him, since Cantabile was a good four inches shorter than him, but it covered him, and that was enough. "I'm ready."

She took one look at him and smiled. "I will have to get one that fits you better, but for now, that will have to do. Just be glad it's not pink."

He was indeed very glad it wasn't pink. He would never live that down, but his wife had good taste at least in picking out her own clothing, she had a tendency to prefer black or other dark colors, which also suited him well. At least this way, he could say it was his, but a bit old. "Let's go before someone wonders where we are."

He opened the door and walked out into the corridor first, no one else seemed to be around, though Dist's shouting could be heard even though he was not in sight. Cantabile followed and closed the door behind her. They went to the nearest exit that was the one those in this corridor were supposed to use during an emergency like this. Thankfully, most in this corridor were high ranking soldiers or God-Generals themselves who would be less likely to speak about their comrades outside of their own group.

They got outside and saw that everyone who was in Daath at this time, except Sync, was already outside. It was actually a rather interesting sight to see them all in their nightclothes. Arietta was standing there in a prim white nightgown hugging her weird looking stuffed animal close to her, looking to be in a very foul mood at being woken up. Largo appeared chipper and was clad in only boxer shorts and a white tank top. This was the only time anyone ever saw him bare any skin, and his arms and legs were nearly as covered in hair as his head and face were. It probably was for the best that his uniform showed very little. Dist was sitting in his chair as always, clad in the silliest looking purple pajamas with pink polka dots. He was hugging some sort of doll close to him, they knew from prior experience that it was a doll of his former friend, Jade the Necromancer. Kiran was out there also, it seemed he had not been assigned a new room yet, despite the fact that he lost his rank, he was only missing his jacket, when normally he would be wearing some sort of bland pajamas. Maybe Sync had given him something to do that kept him up late.

"About time the both of you made it out here! Good thing Sync isn't here yet, he's likely looking for stragglers who think they can get out of this." Largo chuckled.

"Ohhhhh! I so hate these drills! They interfere with my beauty sleep!" Dist whined.

"Shut up Dist, I am trying to get some rest." Arietta grumbled from behind the stuffed doll. Her eyes were closed, it did appear as if she were trying to sleep standing.

"You strange girl, why bother when we just are going to go in again any minute?" Dist told her.

"At least I don't look like an idiot wearing pink and purple PJs!"

Nepenthes laughed at the young girl's retort. She sure could come up with some great insults if pushed hard enough. "She's right you know, you look like a fool in those pajamas clutching that doll of yours."

"And that bathrobe of yours looks a bit too small for you, where did you get it from?" Dist asked him.

"I grabbed the wrong one when I was leaving. At least it's not a silly color that only female Fon Master Guardians would wear."

Arietta laughed at that comment. "Yeah, that's definitely something Anise would wear! If it was any smaller I would wonder if you were raiding her clothes."

"Damn both of you! This is going in my revenge journal when I get back to my room!"

"If you can even remember something for that long." Cantabile grumbled.

"I can too remember this!" Dist fumed. "I have a very good memory!"

"Then why do you need a journal to keep track of who you are getting revenge on?" Nepenthes inquired.

"Because people like you are so horrible that I would clutter my brain with how many times I need to get revenge on you. That way I can make better use of my superb brain for my ultra gorgeous artes."

"Funny, I have never seen such artes."

"That's because you aren't good enough to get to see them!"

"He can't cast a fonic arte to save his life, that's why." Cantabile commented.

"I can too use fonic artes!" Dist whined.

They heard a door open behind them and Sync joined them, he was fully clothed in his uniform and mask, as if he either dressed very quickly, or had been up all night. "All of you, stop arguing now and go back to your rooms! Nepenthes, Cantabile and Kiran, you will report to me first thing in the morning. The rest of you should have your orders already."

Grumbling, but glad it was over, Arietta went inside. Largo followed after her, then Kiran, then Dist, still upset over the insults directed at him. Nepenthes and Cantabile were about to go in when Sync said something. "Nepenthes, you might want to sleep in your own quarters rather than Cantabile's. We will speak more on this in the morning."

They didn't answer, they just went inside and did as asked. The last person they needed knowing was Sync.

-----

Natalia awoke in the middle of the night to a strange noise coming from the hallways. She wondered what it could be, the only ones who would be up at this time of night were the guards, and that wasn't a sound they would make. It couldn't be Evelina, if she awoke now, her nurse would have awoken quickly to feed her.

Well, she was wide awake now, so she decided to investigate, and while she was at it, she could see if the kitchen had anything that she could eat, she was feeling rather hungry.

She opened the door to the hallway and stepped outside, closing the door quickly behind her. Though Luke still showed no signs of waking up, she didn't wish to do anything that could disturb him. It took a minute for her eyes to adjust from the darkness of her room to the light of the hallways even at night. Once she could see clearly, she walked in the direction she had heard the sound.

She didn't have far to go before she found the source of the strange noise, it was Luke's little pet cheagle, Mieu. "Mieu, what are you doing out here?"

"Trying to find Master's room. Can you take me to him?"

"He's still not awake though, are you sure you want to see him like that?"

"I miss Master. Maybe I can help you wake him up."

"Mieu, this is more than just him sleeping. He was hurt badly and his body needs lots of rest to recover."

"He doesn't look hurt, he looks like he's sleeping. Anise found that water works well to wake him up."

She smiled, the little creature sure had a way of cheering her up about even the worst of things. She was indeed starting to worry greatly about the fact that Luke continued to remain unconscious. Even the doctors she had asked to examine him more could not give her any hope that he would ever wake up. In fact they had told her that the more time passed without him awakening, the less chance there was that he would ever awaken. It was quite possible that he would remain in this state for the rest of his life.

The only one who had given her some form of hope was Kiran. Considering his special connection to Luke, she was more likely to believe what he said. Luke seemed perfectly able to communicate with his brother, they might even be speaking to each other at this very moment. It was a shame he had to leave with the others, though she understood why. She had a feeling that if, no when, Luke recovered, he would very well take off after them, leaving her alone again to await his return and hope nothing bad happened again.

This time though, she wasn't going to let him go without a fight. If he had to leave, she would go with him. She wasn't going to let a repeat of this happen if she could help it. However, he had to recover first, which meant he had to wake up first. "Mieu, if water could wake him up, I would be happy to try it, but I doubt it will work."

"Have you tried it then, Natalia?"

"No, I haven't. It won't work." She sadly informed the tiny cheagle.

"Let's go get some water and try it!"

There was definitely no stopping the little cheagle now that it had an idea in it's head. She hated to do this to Luke, but at this point, she was willing to try anything. "Okay, Mieu. I was going down to the kitchen anyhow to get a snack, are you hungry?"

"Oooh! Maybe they have some of those yummy mushrooms! I loved those!"

"Let's go see." She bent down so the cheagle could jump onto her shoulder and walked downstairs to the kitchen. There were already a few servants awake and beginning to start cooking for breakfast. One was busy cleaning the remaining pots from last night's meal and another was busy mixing up something, she had no idea what it was, considering her normally dismal results in trying to cook. Another was gathering up ingredients to start making something when he saw Natalia, "Princess! What brings you here at this time of night? It's still hours until breakfast."

"I couldn't sleep and was feeling a bit hungry. Is there something that could tide me over until breakfast?"

"Of course. There is some bread left from last night's meal, or would you prefer some fruit?"

"Fruit would be wonderful, and do you have some mushrooms for Mieu? He's hungry as well."

"We have plenty of mushrooms."

"Yay! I love the mushrooms here!" the cheagle squealed in delight.

"Let me get you a plate for your snack, Princess. I will have it shortly." He said before walking off. Her wait was not very long before he returned with a plate that had an a sliced apple on one side and mushrooms sliced into sizes that Mieu could easily handle. There was also a glass of water for her. "Will this be enough for you Princess?"

"It is plenty. Thank you, and I look forward to your wonderful meal for the morning."

"You are too kind, Princess. Have a good night's sleep, and I hope your husband gets better soon."

"I do too. Thank you for your kind words, I am sure he would be glad to know you are thinking of his health."

"We hate not seeing him in the castle, all the servants miss him, but we are all glad he's alive. Thank Lorelei for that much at least. Anyway, you better go and get some sleep. You won't be doing him any good if your health gets poor."

"I will do that, thanks again."

She left the kitchen and handed a piece of mushroom to Mieu to keep him content for the time being until she got back to her chamber. He happily chomped on the mushroom and she kept handing him more pieces until she got back to her chamber.

Once inside, she lit a candle so she could see in the room and sat down in one of the chairs in the room that happened to be near a table so she could put the plate down. She let Mieu down onto the table so he could finish eating and took a slice of apple herself.

Mieu finished eating quickly, then looked at Natalia eagerly, "Are you going to try the water now?"

"Let me finish eating first, then I will try it."

"Okay!"

She ate the slices of apple in silence and then took a small sip of the water in the glass. So she did not upset the little cheagle, she made sure half of the glass remained full. If his suggestion worked, that should be enough, though she held little hope that it would. She stood up, holding the glass in her hand and walked over towards where Luke rested on her bed. She hesitantly held the glass above him, about to tip it over when she lost her nerve to do so.

"Come on Natalia! You have to get him wet, or he won't wake up!" Mieu excitedly said while bouncing next to her.

She didn't even realize what had happened when she felt Mieu hit her leg rather hard, causing her to almost lose her balance and spill the water all over the bed, most of it landing on Luke. She was able to keep her balance by quickly grabbing a hold of the side of the bed, but she had come so close to falling that she was not too far from Luke. "Mieu! Don't do that again! I almost fell on top of Luke."

"Mieuuuu. I'm sorry."

She was in the process of steadying herself when she saw a slight movement in Luke's arm. It wasn't much, but she knew it wasn't just her imagination. "Luke? Can you hear me?" He didn't respond, but that movement in the arm was the most she had seen from him yet since Kiran and the others brought him here.

"Is Master waking up?"

"I don't know, but I thought I saw his arm move."

"Really? Then it did work!"

"No, not quite yet."

She took a hold of his hand, lacing her fingers among his. After what she saw, she felt a need to feel the warmth of his hand upon hers, maybe that would encourage him to show some more signs of awakening.

She felt just the slightest movement of his hand on hers, it was definitely not her imagination, it felt like he was trying to hold her hand like he normally did when they sat near each other. She felt tears come to her eyes of true happiness. It may be a small thing, but to her, it was a miracle.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	22. The Scene is Set

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Okay, I lied a bit. I got way ahead in the beginning and then hit a block, since my wonderful beta, darkangel, had already sent me edits, I went ahead and made edits for this chapter and it ended up being ready to post way sooner than I expected! This was all done in the first day of NaNoWriMo. I make no guarantees about any future chapters being up before December, however.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas. And thanks to everyone else who has helped me come up with tons of stuff to write about to get me to the goal of 50,000 words in a month. Yep, definitely crazy, but at least it will put me closer to finishing this.

* * *

Kiran sat in the dark room that made up his personal quarters, staring at the ceiling. After the fire drill, he found himself unable to sleep, filled as he was with dread over his new position among the Oracle Knights.

He turned on a light in the room. If he couldn't sleep, he may as well contemplate a plan of escaping this place. He knew full well that by himself he couldn't handle trying to force his way out, so he would have to leave by stealth.

He lacked the advantage of having a window in his quarters, since he was the lowest ranked among the God-Generals, and now was no longer one. It was probably also a precaution so that it couldn't serve as a potential escape route. He did know Cantabile and Nepenthes had quarters along the outside hallway, so if he could figure out which rooms were theirs, he might be able to use one of those as means to escape. He would also have to find out which of the two rooms they didn't use along with obtaining a key for the unused room. That would be the tricky part, since there were few who had keys to a room aside from its occupant.

_Kiran, what happened with you? _

Kiran jumped at the sound of Luke's voice in his mind. He didn't recall opening their connection, could Luke have caught on to how to do that already? _Luke? You can open the connection now? _

_I guess so. It had been so long since we talked and with you back in Daath, I was getting worried. You seem well though, so the punishment couldn't have been that bad, could it? _

_No, it wasn't so bad. I only lost my rank, which I didn't care about anyhow._

If Luke knew he was not mentioning something, he kept that to himself. _Plotting your escape then? _

_Yes. What about you? Are you doing better? _

_I think so. I tried moving my arm earlier and while it didn't move as much as I wanted, I was able to grasp Natalia's hand. _

_That's wonderful! Soon you should be up and about. _

_And I meant what I said. If you are still in Daath once I've recovered, then I'm coming to get you out. _

_Luke, no. You can't come here._

_Why not? _

_I'm not going to let you of all people get hurt. It's bad enough what happened in Akzeriuth to you, I'm not going to let something like that happen to you again if I can prevent it. _

_Then you better find a way to get out of there, because I'm not going to let you stay. _

_Damn Luke, why do you have to be so stubborn? _

_Well now you know where you get it from, you're just as bad. _

_Am I? _

_Yes. When we talk, I can almost guess how you will react to something based on how I would react. Though you do tend to be more calm and naive on some things than I am. _

_Well, thanks for pointing that out. _

_Honestly, I hate Van for making you grow up so fast, but you still did retain some innocence at least. _

_I can't help the circumstances of my birth, Luke, you know that. I'm just glad he made me and I got a chance to live as long as I have so far and a chance to meet you. If I hadn't, I likely wouldn't have come to accept myself. _

_As much as I hate Van, I also feel a need to thank him for giving me a brother like you. _

_You do know that he didn't plan on telling you until right before I died? _

_It doesn't surprise me that he planned that. At least you found me on your own, that makes everything right in my eyes._

Kiran began to hear the sounds that let him know morning was approaching and it was almost time to report in. Most of the Knights had to report to their superiors around first light, or had duties already set for them at first light. There was the normal pleasant sound of birds chirping that he could faintly heard through the walls chirping that let him know it was getting towards time to report in; there was also the sound of disgruntled knights who were definitely not morning people, tripping over things and yelling. This morning seemed worse than most, probably due to the fire drill which deprived most of them of their much needed rest.

_Luke, I'm going to have to report in soon. It would be best if you let me initiate the connection from now on. _

_Only if you give me regular updates and no reason to worry._

_I promise. I will give you updates the moment I'm off duty each day, no matter how boring my day was. _

_I will hold you to that. Don't forget, because I will find a way to get in touch with you if you don't. _

_Luke, please, I don't want you getting hurt. Don't forget what they made me do to you in Akzeriuth. _

_I won't. Honestly, we are better prepared now, since we know what can happen. Maybe we could practice with my trying to prevent you from controlling me. _

_Not a bad idea. And if they try to control me, maybe I could teach you also how to control me and that could prevent something bad from happening. _

_Good idea, but are you sure you want that? _

_I wouldn't teach you if I didn't trust you. I would rather you controlled me than Sync did._

_Then we can start practicing at it when you contact me tonight, ok? _

_It's a deal. I'm sure you will catch on fast, Luke. You're much more skilled than I am. _

_Don't be so hard on yourself. You wouldn't have reached the rank you did in only six years if you lacked skills. Anyway, I will leave you to your duties._

Kiran suddenly felt alone at Luke's abrupt departure from their connection. That made Kiran feel rather unsettled. He really hoped that Luke wasn't mad at him for any reason.

-----

Not long after his conversation with Luke had ended, Kiran made his way to Sync's office. When he arrived, he found Sync bent over some drawers pulling out numerous files. Now he saw why all the rumors existed about Sync and his mask. The green haired God-General was of course wearing his mask, but amazingly, it was staying on even bent over files as he was. "Kiran, good to see that you're punctual at least, I don't tolerate tardiness. Let me finish pulling these files and I will explain your duties for today."

Kiran just stood there, watching Sync extract file after file. He knew the best thing he could do at this time was to follow orders, to the letter if he could, and hope that he could at the very least lull Sync into a false sense of security where his new assistant was concerned. The pile he saw on the desk was indeed growing very large, almost to the point of falling over. Finally Sync stopped adding to the pile.

"As I told you yesterday, all of 6th Division is being transferred. Normally Legretta handles the actual paperwork for transfers, since she's so picky about how it's all filled out." Kiran definitely understood that much, there were many times where Legretta would send something back to be filled out again because it was unreadable or a mistake was made. "Of course, she happens to not be here right now, likely on purpose. Put simply, I hate paperwork. I don't know your men and well, Kiran, your handwriting is atrocious, and mine is almost unreadable. So now that you're my assistant, you get to do all of it."

Kiran kept quiet, since Sync was still explaining, but he definitely didn't look forward to this task. "Try to keep the numbers going to each of the numbered divisions the same, but Cantabile's 5th Division is a bit overloaded, so keep that as small as possible. No more than five are permitted to go to Research and Development, let's try to keep that at none going , if you can do that. More can go to Special Ops, but keep the number small and as many as feasible female. Nepenthes' male to female ratio sucks and I know he did it on purpose. Got all that?"

Kiran tried not to laugh at that last statement. It seemed Sync knew about those two, almost as much as he did. "Got it sir, it will be done as you wish."

"Try to write legibly at least for what division each is being assigned to. You have until sundown to complete it all. Leave the files out, I will put them away."

Only until sundown to fill out transfer requests for each of his men and women? There had been hundreds under his command! This task would be nearly impossible to complete by then, even if he skipped all meals and worked as quickly as he could. Well, all he could do was his best to complete it. "Yes sir, it will be complete by sundown."

"Good. My office is available today until you get a place of your own for such duties. I have things to do all over Daath, so I won't be available for questions. Largo should be here, since all he has to do today are some training sessions for the younger knights." Sync looked outside and saw Cantabile and Nepenthes finally arrive. They always were a touch late when reporting together despite the fact that when alone, Cantabile was very punctual. He grabbed some files that had been set aside and exited the office, leaving Kiran to his own duties.

So this was what he could expect: impossible tasks to complete in unreasonable amounts of time. At least this one wasn't too painful, but it left Kiran to wonder… what would the future ones be like?

-----

Sync led Cantabile and Nepenthes to a secluded room far away from the office where he had left Kiran. It was a simple room usually used more for planning sessions and meetings among soldiers and God-Generals. It had a table with chairs around it along with maps of various places around Auldrant plastered on the walls. Sync motioned for the other two God-Generals to take a seat. "I'm sure you two know why you are here now, besides your next mission, right?"

Cantabile quirked an eyebrow, "No, what could you have to speak about?"

Sync groaned, "Nepenthes, I saw you leaving Cantabile's room last night during the fire drill. You two do know the rules about fraternization, correct?"

Cantabile sent Nepenthes a look to stop him from speaking, her calm head was more likely to not further irritate Sync, "We do, but nothing was going on that was not approved of by the Commandant."

Sync was taken aback, "The Commandant approves of this? I had suspected something was going on between you two. If I picked up on it, others likely have. How could he approve?"

"We married some time ago, due to…circumstances. Both of us did tender our resignations for this very reason, but were refused."

"Circumstance, hmm?" Sync mulled. "Let me guess, Nepenthes got you knocked up so he had to marry you, am I right?"

Cantabile flushed, but did not answer that question.

"So he did. But you were allowed to continue as you were afterwards?"

"As long as it doesn't affect our duties and we are as discreet as possible, the Commandant approves. Once his plan has come to fruition, he has stated we can resign from our duties as long as we both pick and train a replacement."

Sync looked to her blonde companion, "Is what she says true, Nepenthes?"

"It is, Chief of Staff. The Commandant is indeed aware of our relationship."

"I will be speaking with him when he returns from Baticul on this matter, so don't think you will escape punishment if this isn't true. I will leave it to him to punish if punishment is due. However, it goes to be said that being seen coming out of Cantabile's room in anything besides your uniform, Nepenthes, isn't exactly being discrete. Don't let that happen again."

"We won't, Chief of Staff," Cantabile interjected before her husband could answer, "Now, you said you have our orders?"

"Yes," He handed Cantabile one of the files he had brought in with him. "Those are your new orders. Again it seems you both are being sent to the same area. Does our earlier topic have anything to do with this?"

Cantabile looked over the papers, smiling when she saw the location. They were to end up near Grand Chokmah. It was an easy mission, to lay in ambush for a group to arrive and as long as location at which they were expected to arrive was covered, they could do as they please the rest of the time. She handed the folder to her companion to look over. "It's possible."

He looked at her and smiled when he saw the location. It wasn't the leave they had requested, but at least they could see their son for a short time.

"I can see these orders please you. Both of you are dismissed to give orders to your divisions."

-----

The Tartarus prepared to dock at Daath Bay. Compared to Kiran's short flight, it had been a long trip, but Jade and the others finally arrived to Daath as they had originally planned. Though now they had the added burden of finding some way to get Kiran out of there on top of speaking with Ion about Van's future plans.

At least this time they could arrive to the bay itself, rather than docking at some nearby beach like they had done in Baticul. They knew that if they were to be found by any of the God-Generals, it was going to happen no matter where they docked, so they may as well dock at a more convenient location, than someplace that was even further away.

They still had quite a walk even from Daath Bay to the city of Daath. Ironically the city itself was closer to the coast than it was to Daath Bay, but the closest area that was large enough to work as a port was also impossible to utilize as such, due to the mountains along the coastline. When the mountains themselves start to recede, the water then narrows to a river, so instead it was decided to put the major port on the other side of the continent and make a decent road. The Fourth Monument was placed along this road to make for a good stop for travelers into Daath, along with those making the stone monument pilgrimage.

One disadvantage of taking this route was the fact that much of the area contained woodlands, making it easy for travelers to be ambushed by bandits or monsters. This meant that many travelers would go in groups or hire escorts to make their way into Daath. It definitely did not detract from the fact that travelers enjoyed making the trip into the center of the Order of Lorelei, but it did make the small group now on their way rather wary. Even a small group of Oracle Knights would be enough to defeat them, they just had too few among them. The fact that two among them were Oracle Knights themselves would have to be enough to prevent any attacks.

"Colonel, do you have a plan for getting Kiran out of there?" Tear inquired.

Jade remained silent a moment before answering, "We really can't consider any plans until we know more," He reminded her. "We don't even know if Ion survived Akzeriuth, and a lot depends on if we can get his assistance or not."

"Ion must have survived. If the Commandant did, he must have had some way for Ion to leave the area in time," Anise stated hopefully.

"Even so, Anise, he may not be in Daath. He could be anywhere now. All we know is that the God-Generals had need of him to open the doors to the Sephiroth and that not all those doors are have been opened yet."

"So at this point, it does no good to speculate until we know if the Fon Master is in Daath or not. If he isn't, then we have to either make a plan, or abandon hope of getting Kiran away from here," Tear mentioned.

"For now, let's get into the city and first locate Anise's parents. They would know if Ion returned or not, along with his current whereabouts. They also are likely worried sick about Anise, especially if Ion returned without her, right Anise?" Jade suggested.

"Yeah, they probably are," She admitted sheepishly

"Anise, are your parents in the Order also?" Tear asked the young girl.

"Yes, but they aren't Oracle Knights. The Oracle Knights don't usually allow families."

"Understandable. The Malkuth Imperial Forces have rules about that as well. Having a wife and children tends to distract a solider. Though some of the generals and other higher ranks do have families, they are not in the military. Anyway, we shouldn't draw any more attention to ourselves as we get closer."

They continued on their way to Daath in silence from there. The closer they got, the less their worries became. Besides a few soldiers who patrol the road and groups of travelers either into Daath or on pilgrimage, they saw very few signs of life on the road, even the monsters were mostly leaving them alone, except for a few that were easily handled by the skilled group.

It was getting late in the afternoon by the time they reached the Fourth Stone Monument. From there it was only an hour to Daath itself, but they did take the chance for a short rest and to listen to what the other travelers who were loitering in the area were speaking of.

They were indeed relieved to hear that the travelers were not speaking of things like the sudden disappearance of an entire city and all of its citizens. They were just speaking of worries about the increased tension between Malkuth and Kimlasca or very ordinary concerns along with showing excitement about being in Daath, whether it was a first time visit, or whether they have been here before.

They did know that in all likelihood, those in the Order had already heard about Akzeriuth, and were probably going to try to keep the news among themselves so as not to cause a panic among the citizens. Anyone who had been around during the time of the Hod War knew rather well how easily the average citizen could panic over the disappearance of their land, especially since most didn't know of the Qliphoth's existence. It was better that way, as long as land didn't continue to disappear.

They continued on their way after getting a better idea of the situation along with some much needed rest. A bit over an hour an a few monsters later found them in the outskirts of Daath.

The city itself was bustling with activity, despite the lateness of the hour. There was still time before all the shops closed for the night and the Cathedral closed to the general public. After hours, any members of the Order could still enter, just though an alternate entrance. They made a short detour to replenish supplies, just in case they might need them. After all, they had no idea what was to come, and having a full stock of the essentials would be helpful in case they ran into any trouble with Oracle Knights inside the Cathedral. They then made their way to the cathedral that had its entrance in the center of the city.

They had no problems getting into the Cathedral itself it seeing as it was still before the Cathedral's closing time to the general public. While there were Oracle Knights standing at the doors, they were mostly there for show and in case there were any disruptions in the general area. The group then went upstairs to where Anise's parents had quarters assigned to them.

Many of the Order lived within the Cathedral itself. Anyone could get a room assigned to them if they needed it and one was always available. Despite this, most opted to live outside of the Cathedral to allow themselves more space and privacy. This was not the case with the Tatlins, it seemed, which was unusual for a family, unless they could not afford a home within Daath. The Tatlins did have a room in an ideal location though, it was at the end of a hallway and not extremely far from the stairs, unlike many of the rooms in the maze of hallways that made up the personal quarters for members of the Order.

Anise knocked on the door before entering to see if her parents were even there. It was quite possible they were still off doing their daily duties, it all depended on what they were assigned for the day. The door was promptly opened by a middle aged man who had to be Anise's father. "Anise! It's so good you are back, we were worried sick! Why are you even knocking?" He then looked up and saw Tear and Jade, "Oh, I see, you brought some guests, please come inside all of you and make yourselves at home."

The door opened to admit all of them and they entered. They could see a woman with him also. "Anise, where have you been? Ion returned days ago without you and we were worried sick!"

"Pamela, give her a chance to explain."

"Mama, papa, I'm sorry I didn't return sooner," Anise started to explain. "Ion went missing after we finished our mission, my friends here, Colonel Curtiss and Locrian Sergeant Grants, along with another, helped me to find him."

"Thank you, Colonel Curtiss, Locrian Sergeant Grants, for your assistance to my daughter. I hope she didn't cause any trouble for either of you." The man stated. "Oh, I almost forgot, I am Oliver Tatlin, and this is my wife Pamela, we are Anise's parents."

"Anise, do continue, did you find Ion and get separated again or something?"

"Tear and the Colonel were accompanying an emissary when Ion went missing. It wasn't out of their way to assist me, but once we found Ion he decided to accompany them to their final location."

"Which was…?" Pamela said impatiently.

"We accompanied Anise to Akzeriuth, which was where the emissary was to go. We were to aid in evacuating the city," Jade continued on Anise's behalf. The Tatlins knew him from when he had come to get Ion for the mission to begin with, so they were about as comfortable around him as anyone could be.

"Akzeriuth?! But the city was destroyed if the rumors have it right."

"The rumors do have it right. We were there when the city was destroyed. That is what caused our delay in returning, we had to find a way back here."

"How could all of you lived through that?" Oliver asked. "We had heard there were no survivors to be found, then the reports came in about the land itself disappearing. We had to keep that quiet though, or else there would be a panic."

"That would be Tear's doing. Her quick thinking and casting saved us all," Jade mentioned.

Pamela grasped Tear's hands, "Thank you, Locrian Sergeant. It seems we owe you our daughter's life, if there is anything we ever can do for you, just name it."

Tear flushed at the gratitude. "I-it was nothing, really."

Anise interrupted, "Mama, you said Ion returned already. Is he still in Daath?"

Pamela let go of Tear's hands, "Oh! I'm sorry, of course you need to report in to him. He's been spending a lot of time in the library lately." She explained. "If he's not there, then try his quarters."

"Thanks, Mama."

"Anytime. All of you are welcome here anytime, feel free to stop by again after you see Ion."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tatlin," Tear said.

"Please, call me Pamela and my husband Oliver."

"Well, Anise, shall we go find Ion then?" Jade suggested.

-----

The group walked downstairs to the library. It was actually only one of the libraries contained within the Cathedral, but this was the only one open to any who wished to make use of it. The other was not as well known and was restricted to only higher level members of the Order.

They found Ion sitting at a table in front of the only window in the room. A pile of books lay in front of him on the table and he held one in his hand that he was reading intently. He heard the group enter, in spite of their attempts to remain silent because it was a library, and put the book down. No one else was around, so he felt no qualms at showing his pleasure at seeing Anise and her friends, "Anise! I thought for certain something had happened to you! It's so good to see you!" He hugged her in genuine pleasure. "What about Luke, didn't he join you, or did he go home to his wife already?"

Anise blushed at Ion's show of affection; it was so unlike him to hug her, though in this case it was understandable, "Um, well, we took Luke home. He hasn't woken up since we found him in Akzeriuth."

"Oh no!" Ion cried. "Is he going to be okay?"

"We really don't know. But it's so sad seeing him like that, and poor Kiran…"

"Kiran? You met him?" Ion inquired looking confused. "But he left with Van…oh wait, that's right, I heard he somehow ended up near Baticul. That might explain a few things."

"Then he's here?"

"Yes, he was brought back yesterday by Cantabile and Nepenthes. Soon after I heard talk about 6th Division being disbanded."

"Where is he now?"

"He should be in Oracle Headquarters. Why do you ask? I admit, I was rather surprised when I saw him yesterday."

"You didn't even know about him then?"

"No, even I wasn't told that a replica had been made of Luke. That among other things is why I have been spending so much time here in the library, it seems there is much I need to learn, and I need to become more familiar with the Closed Score. Had I known…"

"Had you known what?" Jade asked.

"Had I known what the Score said about Akzeriuth, I wouldn't have opened the seal."

"Ion, what exactly did the Closed Score say about Akzeriuth?" Anise inquired of the boy.

He stood up, "Hmm, I guess it's okay to tell you since it has already happened. Come with me, I will read the Score for you."

He led them to a room behind the main altar of the Cathedral. Within the room was a giant Fonstone. "Here we have a Fonstone enshrined, it contains parts of the First through the Sixth Fonstones, through this, a Fon Master can read the entirety of the Score."

"Ion! You know that isn't good for your health!" Anise declared.

"Anise, I'll be fine. I'll only read the parts pertaining to what you asked and assure you that there is nothing else to worry about," Ion assured her. "Please don't stop me, we can't let something like this happen again."

"Fine," Anise sulked. "But you have to promise to get some rest afterwards."

"I will," He said before he began chanting the short arte that would allow him to be able to read the contents of the Score held within the Fonstones and easily find the smaller portion he needed. Then he began speaking in a different voice, still like his own, but more of a monotone. It was as if someone or something was speaking through him. "ND2000. In Kimlasca shall be born the scion of Lorelei's power. He will be of royal blood with hair of red. He shall be called 'the light of the sacred flame' and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity."

He paused to take a deep breath before continuing, "ND2002. The one who would seize glory shall destroy the island of his birth, a land named Hod. War shall persist between Kimlasca and Malkuth for a full cycle of the seasons."

He paused again, everyone else remained silent to allow him to speak these words in the shortest time possible, he could explain more once he was done reading. "ND2018. The young scion of Lorelei's power shall bring his people to the miner's city. There, the youth will turn power to calamity and be as a weapon of Kimlasca, destroying himself and the city. Thereafter, the land of Rugnica will be enveloped in war, and Malkuth shall lose territory. Kimlasca-Lanvaldear shall thrive, and this shall lead to unprecedented prosperity."

After finishing those last words, he stopped speaking, it was obvious the arte was finished and Ion dropped to his knees. Anise rushed to him to offer support, "Ion!

"I'll be fine," he said weakly to his guardian. "That was all the Sixth Fonstone had to stay. As you can see, no other lands are to be harmed. All we can do is try to prevent the war from happening."

"Hmm, the scion of Lorelei's power…is that supposed to be Luke?" Tear inquired.

"It must be, he is the right age."

"Interesting, so hyperresonance is Lorelei's power then?"

"But wait, Luke didn't use the power, he was forced to by Kiran, and even Kiran was forced to use his power!" Anise declared. "This is all messed up!"

"Anise does have a point there," Tear allowed. "My brother hated the Score, maybe this is what he planned. By outward appearance, it does appear as if the Score was fulfilled. Akzeriuth is gone, and Luke is in very bad shape, but only those who were there know what really happened."

"What could Van be doing then? " Jade mulled. "He doesn't strike me as the type to do something without reason. He went through a lot of trouble to make a replica with Luke's ability, there has to be a reason for that…"

"Didn't Teodoro say something about the Score being fulfilled, though not in the way expected?" Anise mentioned.

"Hmm, Grandfather did mention that. Van would have knowledge of the Closed Score also. He would have known that Luke was supposed to die in Akzeriuth."

"So then Kiran was to act as Luke's replacement after his death. Van needs the 'power of Lorelei' mentioned in the Score. But what could he need hyperresonance for?"

"Could he be planning to destroy other passage rings, like what happened with Akzeriuth?" Anise suggested.

"But what would be the point of that? The Order wouldn't stand for him driving the Score off from its predicted course," Jade mentioned.

"Most definitely not. Mohs is quite adamant about making sure the Score is fulfilled," Ion brought up. "But no one knows what the Seventh Fonstone says. That's why Mohs is searching so hard for it."

"So what were the God-Generals trying to do when they took Ion? I thought they were trying to start a war. Just what did they do with you, Ion?" Anise inquired.

"They took me to the Sephiroth," Ion mentioned.

"And then what?"

"I was asked to open the Daathic seals on the gates to the passage rings enshrined both in the Zao Ruins and in Shurrey Hill. There should be no danger though, the Yulian seals on the passage rings still hold, even with Akzeriuth's fall."

"Oh, that's right, I recall learning that there was a seal called the Albertesque seal that was held by the Hod and Akzeriuth Sephiroth."

"That's correct Tear. The Sephiroth are protected by three seals. The first one is the Daathic seal, which can be broken only by the Fon Master. The second is the Albertesque seal, which is now gone. The last is the Yulian seal."

"Ion, do you know anything about the Yulian seal?" Jade asked the boy.

"I have yet to find much information about them. That was the other reason why I was looking through the books in the library. All I could find was that they would fall 'when the time is right'."

"What could that mean?" Tear mulled.

"Even so, the passage rings are not something the average person could operate. They are also not easily destroyed. I wish I could tell you more, but there is little information here on them."

"I wonder if Yulia City has more information, we have a library as well. Then again, we know very little about the many Dawn Age devices that still exist, and the passage ring appeared to among them."

"That could be possible, though the mayor seemed very hesitant to give information. However, I can't deny that more information about the passage rings would be helpful," Jade agreed.

"Grandfather only wishes to see the Score fulfilled. If we can show him that there is a reason for concern, he will help us."

"Tear, is there even a way to return to Yulia City?" Jade questioned her.

"There is. The Yulia Road is a two way method of travel for those of Yulia City who need to visit the Outer Lands. Its entrance is not far from here at Aramis Spring."

"But we still don't have confirmation. The mayor obviously knew the Score we have just been read along with what we told him happened at Akzeriuth," Jade mentioned.

"If it might help, I could come along after I get some rest. A few hours should be enough."

"That would be very helpful, Fon Master," Tear agreed. "Your help would be most appreciated. We can use the time you need to rest to come up with a plan."

"We should go to the inn and speak further. When we are ready to leave, Ion, Anise will come for you. Does that suit you?" Jade mentioned.

"That works well. Please, don't do anything to get yourselves in trouble here. I don't know what you are planning, but it would be best if you leave Kiran here."

None of them answered him. They had no intention of heading the Fon Master's warning. Kiran and Luke seemed to be the key to whatever it was that Van had planned and since Luke was in no condition to do anything, that left Kiran.

-----

Kiran was bent over the current transfer request paper he was working on. It was proving to be very difficult for him to get this all filled out in the time limit he had been given. Sync was right, his handwriting was awful. He had never been taught how to write in the way a normal child would have been. Even so, as he progressed, he could see just how much trouble Cantabile had gone to just to make sure he knew what little he did know. She had been kind enough to take the time to teach him how to properly fill out paperwork and how to write, which had been quite a bit of time out of her already busy schedule. The same went with Largo, he was quite busy with his own duties, but he still spent the time teaching a young Kiran what he needed to know if he was to become one of them. His take on it was that if he took the time, it meant his comrades would be as capable as him.

Kiran's deadline was nearing and he was barely even halfway done with the task. He had even skipped meals for the day to finish as much as possible, and his stomach was definitely protesting the absence. He would have time later.

The door to the office opened for the first time that day admitting his new superior, Sync. Sync put some files away before he looked over at Kiran, "What progress have you made?"

"Only about halfway done. I'm sorry, sir, I won't be able to complete it in the time allotted, may I have some extra time?"

At that moment, Kiran's stomach made a loud noise showing the fact that the young boy had indeed skipped lunch at the very minimum. Sync could feel a smirk cross his face. This actually pleased him to see Kiran being this cooperative, even though this was a very simple task. "You may have two additional days if you don't skip meals to finish. Good job Kiran, you pass."

Kiran's eyebrows raised, what did he mean by that? "Sir, I don't understand what you mean? I failed to meet the deadline you set for me."

"Even Legretta wouldn't have been able to meet that deadline. It was completely unreasonable. The idea was to see if you could follow orders without question. Many times you will be given tasks that seem beyond your ability, but as you can see, when you put your mind to it, you can accomplish more than you think."

"Was that all then, sir?"

"Yes. As you can see there is always a reason for a task being given, that is why you never question your superior officer, no matter what position you are in. That is what got you in this position, Kiran. Don't question anything I order you to do, and we won't have any problems. Just do what I order to the best of your ability and I will be satisfied. Now go get something from the mess hall, you can continue tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," Kiran said as he stood up. He left before Sync could say anything different, he was indeed very hungry, and wanted more than anything to get away from that paperwork.

He knew that task was also to accomplish another point, to drive home the fact that he lost his rank and what that caused for others. But he felt more confident now after what Sync said, now he just had to hope he would have no reason to question future orders.

-----

The mess hall was actually rather empty, despite the time of day. There were a few lower ranked Oracle Knights sitting at various tables either alone or in groups of friends, but more than half of the tables were vacant when Kiran entered to find a place to sit. He opted to sit alone. There was no one he knew well, and he would prefer to be alone with his thoughts.

Though he did realize, this would be a good chance to give Luke an update and see how he was doing. They couldn't start on the practice they discussed earlier, but they could at least talk. He reached out to Luke via their connection and got an immediate response, _Kiran! How did it all go for you. _

_Fine. I was just given busy work for the day and will go back to it tomorrow. How are you doing? _

_As well as someone who can't open their eyes can be doing. I have tried, but I can't. More than anything I want to see my daughter with my own eyes, not through yours. _

_Give it time. You have made great progress so far. Don't give up now! _

_I'm not! I'm just impatient, that's all. _

Kiran smiled, he and Luke were indeed alike. He could definitely feel Luke's pain, though he never was in such a condition. Any time he got injured or sick he hated lying in bed.

_So what's your plan to escape? _

_I'm still working on it. _

_You know the others will likely come for you soon. _

_Or maybe not. Anise has to return to her duties, as does Jade and Tear. Tear wants to stop her brother, or so she claims, but she can do that on her own too. _

Kiran could hear the sound of laughter in his mind, _If she could, he wouldn't be a problem anymore. She already has tried to kill him and failed. She's good, but she can't do it by herself. Neither can you. _

_I know. _

Kiran's thoughts were interrupted by a new arrival to the mess hall who caused a bit of a stir. Anytime a God-General entered the dining hall, there was usually a sudden round of whispered comments, along with a bit of fear, among those present. That was exactly what happened when Sync arrived to get dinner.

Kiran tried to banish his thoughts of dread at Sync being here. He hoped very much Luke didn't notice that, but it seemed he did _Kiran, what's wrong? _

_Nothing, just a bit nervous, that's all. _

_Because Sync the Tempest is here now? _

_You see that? _

_Yeah. Why are you worried about him, you aren't doing anything that would cause him to do anything to you. _

_Luke, let's talk more later, ok? _

_Kiran, no, you aren't shutting me out now. Tell me what's going on. _

Kiran's response was cut off by more new arrivals. Sync had already gotten his meal and found a table in a corner not too far off from Kiran, but still a distance away; but it was the newest arrivals that truly made Kiran nervous. He saw Tear and Anise come in. _Damn it! Why now of all times? _

He got up as if he were leaving, taking his tray with him with his half unfinished meal. Though he was still hungry, having them be seen by Sync was a much worse thing to have happen.

As he walked past to place the tray where they were supposed to so the workers could clean them up, he made sure to brush past Tear and whisper to her where his quarters were and to meet him up there. Then he walked out of the hall.

He didn't see Sync leave his tray on the table and follow once the others had left.

-----

_Kiran, tell me what's going on? Why did Sync's presence seem to especially bother you when you want to leave so badly. _

_I'll tell you later Luke, this isn't the time. I have to prevent them from getting hurt. _

_Sync has no reason to do anything to them though, Anise and Tear are Oracle Knights also. _

_He likely knows by now who I was found with. _

Kiran looked behind him to make sure Sync wasn't following him. He didn't see Sync anywhere, but he knew that meant little. Sync was small, and known for his ability at stealth.

He reached his quarters with no issues and went inside closing the door behind him, but leaving it unlocked. He waited for Tear and Anise to arrive hoping they understood the quick directions he gave.

He knew Sync had likely followed. Tear and Anise were likely going to ask him to come with them. If he did, Sync would make sure that didn't happen. If he didn't, Tear and Anise would be upset with him. Either option was not desired at all.

Luke was remaining quiet for the time being, there was no help from that avenue. He was on his own to come to a decision, and the only decision he could make was not one he desired one bit. All he could hope for was that he could say the right words to trick Sync and help them though he couldn't come with them. It was not going to be easy at all.

He heard a hesitant knock on the door soon after he came to his decision. "It's open." Anise and Tear hesitantly entered and closed the door behind them. "Lock the door behind you, it will at least delay anyone who might bother us."

The door was locked. "Kiran, what's going on? You seemed upset that we came," Tear asked.

"Sync had arrived just before you. He likely followed me here. So why are you two here?"

"Kiran, you don't have to stay. We are leaving the city shortly, come with us," Anise mentioned.

"I can't come with you. I said I would willingly come back, remember?"

"That was just so we didn't get hurt and we know it!" Anise declared. "You knew we were coming here next."

"It doesn't change a thing. Do what you have to do, but leave me out of it."

"Kiran, stop lying to us! We know you aren't here by choice!" Tear exclaimed.

"Do you really want Sync to catch you both here? You should leave before he starts to suspect something."

"Kiran, were you lying to us then? Do you really want to work with Van?" Tear inquired.

He thought a moment before answering. He hated lying to them, but with Sync hearing their every word, he had to be careful what he said. "You know how I feel. I told you before and it hasn't changed."

Tear thought over his words, what could he be referring to? She remembered what he said about Sync controlling him…that was it! He was afraid that if Sync saw them, he would be forced to do something against his will again. The only way they could get Kiran away from here was to somehow make it so that Sync couldn't control them, but that wasn't something they could do now. "Anise, let's go. He's shown his true colors. It's obvious he prefers working with Van." She said for Sync's benefit. "We're wasting our time here. Good luck to you Kiran."

She shot him a thoughtful look, hoping he understood that they were not abandoning him to Van before she pulled Anise along with her to leave. Anise looked very confused, but she said nothing and let Tear drag her outside the room, leaving Kiran alone.

_Kiran, how could you?! _Luke interjected for the first time since they had arrived.

_You know exactly what would have happened had I left this room. Sync would have found us and I likely would have been forced to hurt them. I couldn't have that happening. I just hope Tear understood what I was trying to tell her. _

_What were you trying to say? _

_I told them that I didn't want either of us to be manipulated anymore. They know about the Curse Slot. _

_ I just hope you know what you're doing. _

_I'm hoping they'll find a way to remove it. That's the only way I'm going to be able to leave. Until then, I can always be forced to do something I don't want to do. _

_Hmmm, do you have any idea how to remove it?_

_Not one. _

_ If I were able, I would find out for you, but… _

_ I know Luke, just concentrate on recovering, if I'm still stuck here, then you can help me out of this mess. _

_ I'll do just that. _

Luke cut off the connection from his end, surprising Kiran, since he had initiated the connection in the first place this time, leaving Kiran alone with his thoughts again.

And his thoughts were far from pleasant.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	23. A Long Awaited Awakening

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Okay, I lied a bit. I got way ahead in the beginning and then hit a block, since my wonderful beta, darkangel, had already sent me edits, I went ahead and made edits for this chapter and it ended up being ready to post way sooner than I expected! This was all done in the first day of NaNoWriMo. I make no guarantees about any future chapters being up before December, however.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas. And thanks to everyone else who has helped me come up with tons of stuff to write about to get me to the goal of 50,000 words in a month. Yep, definitely crazy, but at least it will put me closer to finishing this.

* * *

Upon their departure from Kiran's quarters, Anise left to go find Ion, disappointed that they couldn't accomplish the task of getting him away from Van. Tear made her way to the Inn where they had left Jade since he couldn't get into Oracle Headquarters, and even if he could have, it would have raised suspicions.

She entered and found him sitting at the bar sipping at a drink. "Enjoying yourself, Colonel?" she asked.

He shrugged in his usual manner, "I had to do something to pass the time while you two looked for Kiran. Since he's not with you, I gather it didn't work."

She shook her head. "We were seen by the God-General Sync. Kiran was too afraid to come along after what happened in Akzeriuth. At least that is what I think he was trying to tell me. He couldn't be direct because he thought Sync was spying."

"A sound plan on his part. What exactly did he say then?"

"He told me, 'You know how I feel. I told you before and it hasn't changed.'"

"He was either referring to his feelings about Van, or the fact that he didn't want any of us hurt for his freedom," Jade suggested. "Though we can't know for sure. The only one who might know is in no condition to tell us."

"But we can't afford any delays. If Van plans to make any more lands fall like Akzeriuth did, we need to learn how to work the passage rings so we can prevent a tragedy like Akzeriuth."

"Exactly. I hope Ion can convince the mayor of Yulia City to tell us."

The door to the inn opened admitting Anise and Ion. "We're ready to go!"

"Fon Master, are you sure you can make the trip?" Tear inquired.

"I'm fine, Tear," He cheerfully answered. "I can handle the trip. This is more important. And don't worry about Kiran, Tear. If nothing has happened to him by now, he will be fine. His remaining here may even get you the information you need."

"Indeed. We already learned one thing. Whatever Van plans for the future, he needs someone with either Luke or Kiran's powers."

"Why do you say that, Colonel?" Anise inquired.

"His actions would normally be punishable by death, which is a sentence that is usually quickly carried out. Even if the sentence had yet to be carried out, he was not found in a dungeon, was he?"

"No, he wasn't. You bring up a good point there, Colonel. My brother always ensures any sentences of death are dealt with quickly."

"Though I doubt Kiran has been completely spared, he is still among the living. Instead he was merely demoted, if what Ion said about 6th Division is correct. Demotion is a punishment usually given to those who don't follow orders, have failed too many times or other such offenses."

"It would have been nice if he had made more sense when we spoke with him," Anise grumbled.

"He didn't have a choice. We will have to be more careful next time. At least we know where his quarters are now, unless he's moved."

"If he isn't moved tonight," Jade mentioned. "If he's needed as much as we think he is, whoever has command of him will make sure there is no chance he can escape."

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when the time comes," Tear told them, "For now we have to get to the Yulia Road and speak with grandfather."

-----

Natalia sat near Luke's side, grasping his hand in hope of some sign of further progress. So far she had yet to receive any, but she remained hopeful.

Though he did show more signs of life than he had before, he still had yet to open his eyes for her. She was becoming more and more concerned the longer he went without waking up. The doctors had advised that the longer he remained like this, the less hope there was of a full recovery. She couldn't stand for him to be in this condition, he was too young and important to both her and her country.

She gently brushed some wayward strands of his red hair from his forehead. When she did so, she noticed his eyelids move in just the slightest. "Luke!" She exclaimed. "Luke, can you hear me?! Please, open your eyes for me!"

He could faintly hear her voice, but it must have been enough, he was finally able to open his eyes completely. To Natalia, they appeared clear and alert, he must be awake finally! "N-Natalia?" He weakly said.

"Luke!" she exclaimed as she hugged him tightly to her. It was as if he would disappear if she were to let him go. "You're finally awake!"

"Not so tight..." He requested. His voice came out not only very weak, but slow and monotone. That didn't matter to Natalia, he was speaking, he was awake and alert, that was enough. The rest would come in time. It likely was from being unconscious for so long that he was like this. She loosened her hold on him.

"I'm sorry. I was just so happy to hear your voice! Aunt Susanne will be ecstatic when she finds out!"

"May I see our daughter?" he unsurely asked.

"I will go get her. Will you be all right by yourself for a bit?"

"I think so."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

She gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'll send in the doctor to see you also. I'll be right back."

She hurried out of the room to get Evelina and the doctor and just was bursting to share the good news with everyone she saw. She couldn't say anything quite yet, not until Susanne heard the news. From past experience, Natalia knew she should be by to see her son soon.

Natalia entered the nursery and found Evelina's nurse putting her back in her cradle. She turned and saw the Princess, "Oh, Princess! I was just finishing feeding her."

She smiled at the slightly older woman. She was actually only a few years older than Natalia and had a family of her own, with a newborn son. Though other than having a family, she was inexperienced, but needed the work badly enough that Natalia was happy to hire her on, which Natalia had found no cause to regret. She took wonderful care of Evelina which had helped alleviate Natalia's stress since Evelina's birth. "She's getting big already, which is good, since she was born early. Do you want to hold her?"

"I actually wanted to take her to meet her father. It's definitely long overdue."

"Yes, it is. I definitely feel for him, so young and such an awful thing to have happen. How is he doing?"

"He just woke up and spoke with me!"

"He did?! That is wonderful news!"

"Please keep this between us for now. If you see Madam Fabre, please tell her to come see Luke."

"Of course, Princess. Now, you better go let Evelina's father finally meet his daughter."

Natalia walked over to the cradle and picked the little girl up. She was such a good baby, never protesting one bit, unless she was hungry or wet. Luke definitely will love her. "When should I bring her back for her nap?"

"In an hour unless she falls asleep sooner."

"I'll have her back by then. Thanks for your care of her."

"Of course Princess. She's a wonderful little girl, I am happy to take care of her for you."

-----

Luke found that he was already feeling very restless. Though he was glad to finally be awake, he knew full well that Natalia wouldn't let him out of bed for weeks. He didn't want to wait around that long to get better. He wanted to get back to the way he was before, and though he wasn't going to mention it to Natalia, he would have to help Kiran stop Van. He didn't forget the fact that Van was perfectly willing to sacrifice either him or Kiran for the sake of whatever his twisted plans involved. But what could that be?

He was also worried about Kiran now that he was among the Oracle Knights again. Though he acted like he was fine with it, Luke saw beneath the surface, and could tell that he hated every moment of it, not to mention that something was filling him with dread. He wished Kiran would come out and say what it was.

At least he knew one thing: the only way he was going to get Kiran away from the Oracle Knights was to remove that Curse Slot. If he was going to have to lay around in bed for a time, the least he could do is some research to help Kiran out. He would have to ask Natalia to bring him some books and he hoped this didn't hinder his ability to read.

The door opened admitting Natalia who was holding a small baby that Luke recognized from Kiran's thoughts and he could see she had already grown since then. Just how long had passed since Kiran left?

"Luke, meet you daughter. I named her Evelina Nadine just like we had discussed when you insisted that I pick names for a girl. I'm glad you did, I wouldn't have been able to think of something."

He tried to sit up on the bed to get a better view of Natalia and his daughter. He was a bit shaky still, so it was difficult for him. "Bring her closer, I'd like to hold her."

"But Luke, you shouldn't, not yet."

"I should be able to sit up, come, sit beside me so I can see her then."

"Luke…" Natalia pleaded. "You shouldn't push yourself, you just woke up. Don't try to do things so fast."

"I'll be fine now. Please, come closer."

Though she didn't want him pushing himself too hard, not when he was finally recovering, she sat down on the bed next to him and balanced Evelina in the crook of her arm. "Isn't she the most beautiful little girl? She takes after you so much."

He finally was able to raise himself to a sitting position. Natalia looked very concerned, "Don't say anything," Luke interjected, "I am not going to get better if I just lie here in bed."

"Will you at least wait for the doctor to say if it's okay for you to be exerting yourself?"

"If you let me hold my daughter, I might consider it."

She sighed. She could tell she wasn't going to win this one, and she hadn't been able to find Luke's doctor yet. "Evelina, your daddy wants to hold you, so be good for him. He's waited far too long to meet you."

Luke smiled as Natalia handed the baby to him. He was able to balance her in his arms and was amazed that he did indeed have the strength already to hold her. She was very small, much smaller than he had though she would be. He was overwhelmed to be able to hold within his arms a new life created by him and the woman he loved. A new life that would someday take the throne with her own husband when she was older, just like he and Natalia would someday. "She is very beautiful. Thank you for giving her to me."

"You had just as much of a part in creating her you know. It's wonderful to see a new life that we created, isn't it?"

He nodded. He tried to balance her into just one arm and found her trying to grasp his other hand with her tiny little hands. Her hands were so small that they could only really grab one finger on his other hand.

Just then the door opened, this time it was Susanne. "Natalia! I thought I would find you here." She gasped upon seeing Luke sitting up and holding Evelina. "Luke! You're finally awake! I see you've already met your daughter."

"Yes, he asked to meet her right away," Natalia explained.

"But Luke, should you already be sitting up? Isn't that too much exertion when you've just woken up?"

"Mother, I'm much better."

"We'll let the doctor be a judge of that. He should be by soon. It's almost time for his rounds here to check up on you." Susanne smiled at him. "Though I'm not all that surprised at you. You never were a good patient."

Natalia giggled. That was indeed a true statement. Luke hated being sick, he always wanted to be doing something. He hated more than anything lying around in bed doing nothing. She would have to think of some way to at least convince him to stay in bed for some time until he regained more strength. "Here, let me take Evelina from you, Luke. You must be getting tired already."

Though he hated to admit to it, she was right. Even sitting up and holding his daughter was more exertion than he had done since he was forced to destroy Akzeriuth. It drained him. He hated parting with his daughter so soon after getting to see her with his own eyes at last, but he reluctantly passed Evelina back to Natalia, and laid himself back down on the bed. Natalia said nothing about the fact that she had been right, which he appreciated. Evelina was protesting being away from her father by trying to squirm out of Natalia's arms.

"It seems you've already won her over, Luke," Susanne mentioned.

"I'm not surprised, she always seemed to respond more to Luke while I was pregnant. She would start kicking up a storm once he came up to see me, "Natalia commented.

"Natalia, if you want, I'll take her back to the nursery and locate the doctor. Luke definitely should be checked over before he gets too tired."

Natalia got off the bed and walked over to Susanne and handed the baby to her. "Please. He does look very tired already."

"I'll be fine, Mother, Natalia," Luke grumbled. "I am kind of tired though."

"I'll be back then. It would be best for him to be checked while he's still awake." Susanne mentioned before leaving with Evelina.

-----

It wasn't very long before Susanne returned with the doctor who serviced the entire royal family, Dr. Rhinehart. He was an older man and renowned in his practice, though he has made no major accomplishments. He was more known for his extensive knowledge and care of his patients, which was why the nobles of Baticul much sought out his services. He was mostly under the service of the royal family, especially due to Susanne's ill health and Ingobert's advanced age.

Even with his extensive knowledge of health problems, Luke's condition had been completely baffling to Dr. Rhinehart. He had had patients in comas before, but it was nothing like Luke's condition. The worst part was the fact that no one could really explain well what caused him to end up in this condition. Kiran had already been gone by the first time he had come to see Luke since his return, so it was left to Natalia and Susanne to explain.

He was very pleased to see the Princess looking as happy as she did sitting with her husband. She had been quite distraught since the birth of her daughter and even Luke's return didn't help as much as it should have. She was finally looking more like her normal self. Then when he got closer to his patient, he could clearly see why. "Ah, Luke, you have decided to rejoin us at last, I see. How do you feel?"

"Tired," Luke answered.

"That is no surprise. Even the smallest exertions from a patient who has just come out of a coma will be very tiring. I'll let the Princess answer my questions so you don't have to exert yourself any more while I examine you."

"Fine, examine away. I want to know when I can get out of bed."

The doctor chuckled as he started to examine Luke more closely. "You have a long ways to go, young man. You body still needs to recover from all that it has been though. Princess, how long has he been awake now?"

"Maybe about an hour?" she answered.

"Was he able to speak right away, or did it take longer?"

"He was able to speak almost right after he opened his eyes. His voice was a bit weak at first, but he's sounding much more normal now."

"Ah yes, did his voice sound monotone at first?"

"Yes, it did."

"Don't worry, that is also normal. But once he heard you speak, he started adjusting, and rather quickly at that. A good sign."

"He was able to sit up and hold Evelina. That is likely why he's so tired. I told him it was too much for him."

The doctor shook his head with disbelief. Luke really was a horrible patient. It was going to be hard to keep him in bed for even a few days, much less the weeks it would probably take to regain his strength completely. "Luke, you shouldn't exert yourself so much. You may feel up to it, but your body is still recovering from the damage that was done to it. I don't want you leaving this bed until I say you can."

Luke frowned. He didn't like that at all. Knowing the doctor, he would be forced to remain in bed for weeks. "We'll see."

"Luke, I am going to insist. You could hurt yourself even further if you don't listen. You can sit up in bed for short periods for now, while eating."

"Doctor, isn't there something we can let him do to keep him occupied? I know him well enough that if he isn't doing something, he will try to get out of bed."

He mulled over this for a moment. Luke wasn't the type for quiet activities that could be done while resting in bed, but he didn't seem to mind reading. He could only tolerate it if it was a subject of interest to him or could be of use to him. "After he gets some rest, let's see if reading is tiring to him. Would that suit you, Luke?"

"That would be fine, if I can request what Natalia brings me to read."

"Princess, all I ask is nothing too heavy for him to hold or material too complex. Otherwise he can have whatever he wants to read. It would also be best for him to start on more solid and nourishing foods to get his strength back. He can eat anything that is appetizing to him and as often as he wishes. It may take some time before he completely regains his normal appetite, but once he does, he will eat a lot for a time."

"Is there anything else I should know, doctor?"

"He will also likely sleep a lot. It is very normal for someone like him to still continue to sleep often. It's good for him to get a lot of sleep, because his body will need it to finish recovering. Don't be surprised if he can only remain awake for a short time and is awake at odd hours. He will eventually regain a more normal sleep cycle. Otherwise, he seems to be well on the road to recovery. We will know more about any lasting effects he will have as more time passes."

Natalia looked a bit scared for the first time since the doctor had come in, "Lasting effects?"

"Sometimes a coma patient doesn't regain all of his normal abilities. That, however, depends on the type of injury that caused it the coma in the first place. Until he is able to be up and about, we won't know if this applies to Luke. Don't worry about it, Princess. He's young and strong, that is in his favor." He looked over at Luke who had fallen asleep and shook his head. "It seems he overdid it. You should get some rest as well, Princess. It won't do him any good if you make yourself ill. I'll check up on both of you later."

-----

Ion and the others arrived at the spring that gave Aramis Spring its name some hours after they had left Daath. The spring itself was very lovely with all the vapors coming off it and catching the light, creating numerous sparkling colors among the mist. To the casual observer, there was no evidence that this spring held a secret, that it was the entrance to the Yulia Road and led to the Qliphoth. It had been a good choice by whomever had made this road in the years past.

"Wow! This is really pretty!" Anise declared. "So this is how you came here, Tear?"

"Yes. This is the entrance to the Yulia Road on the Outer Lands side," Tear explained.

"Didn't you get soaked when you came out from here?"

"No. The road itself protects from the water."

"A good thing it does. I do so hate getting wet," Jade mentioned. "It would also be bad for Ion's health."

"I'll be fine. I have used the Yulia Road before with no ill effects," Ion explained.

"You have Ion?" Anise questioned the young Fon Master.

"I couldn't bring you along, Anise. I couldn't even say where I was going. Only those of Maestro rank or above are permitted to accompany me to Yulia City."

"So, Tear, how does this thing work?" Anise asked.

"I don't know the specifics of how it works, but I can say what I know. It uses the Sephiroth to push people up or down between here and Yulia City. The technology is something long lost from the Dawn Age," Tear explained. "I'll go first. That way if someone sees us, there should be no problem."

"A sound idea," Jade allowed. "Ion, you go after Tear. Then Anise, and I will go last."

Tear stepped into the mist being given off by the spring. She quickly found the spot that would take her to Yulia City and stepped upon it. The moment she did so, she vanished from sight.

"Wow!" Anise exclaimed. "She just disappeared into thin air!"

Ion followed after Tear. Anise continued to stare for so long that she needed a gentle nudging from Jade to take her turn. It took her a bit longer than it did Tear and Ion to find the right spot, but she did. Then Jade followed and met with the others in a room in Yulia City covered in glowing glyphs on the walls and floors.

"So that's what traveling like that is like. It's a lot like the way to get to Ion's quarters in Daath," Anise remarked.

"It is. We find it useful to get us to the Outer Lands," Tear explained.

"It is very interesting. A shame that such technology has been lost, though some evidence of it can be found in other places, like the glyph that leads to my quarters in Daath," Ion explained. "But let's go find Teodoro."

They first checked the large conference room in which they had found Teodoro in the last time. Tear explained that he spent most of the day there and as long as there was no council meeting, and that he left the door open for anyone to speak with him if need be. They were lucky to find him alone again and as he was the last time, he was poring over some papers intently. He must have heard them come in, since he looked up right away. "Tear! What are you doing back so soon? Oh, Fon Master! It has been some time since your last visit. How are things with the Order in Daath?"

"Things are going well. We have some questions to ask, Teodoro. It would be of great assistance to me and the others."

"Of course. I'm glad to be of service to you, Fon Master."

"Could you provide us with information about the passage rings?"

"The passage rings? Why might you ask about them, Fon Master?"

"Two of the Sephiroth besides Akzeriuth have been opened. I'm afraid to say, I was forced to do so. I was not aware of the fact that Akzeriuth would soon fall and the Albertesque seal would be destroyed."

"Ah, I can understand your concern, Fon Master. Rest assured, even if the Daathic seal and Albertesque seal are broken, the Yulian seal should still hold, there is no reason to be concerned."

"Grandfather, what is the Yulian seal you speak of?" Tear asked him.

"It was a seal placed on the passage rings by Yulia herself, as the little knowledge we have has it. All that was said was that they could only be broken 'when the time is right'"

"What does that mean?" Ion asked.

"I'm afraid that I do not know what it refers to."

"Is there any way to tell if the Yulian seal still holds, mayor?" Jade inquired.

"There is. The seal itself shows on the passage ring. If it is broken, it would be visible by the fact that one could see the ring clearly."

They all considered this knowledge for a moment. "Wait, I don't recall seeing any such thing at Akzeriuth, did any of you see such a thing?" Tear mentioned.

"Hmmm, we barely arrived before the ring was destroyed, but I recall seeing the passage ring quite clearly before it was destroyed."

"Then the seal must have been broken in Akzeriuth already," Jade mentioned. "Ion, did Van have you do anything in particular there?"

"No, once the Daathic seal was broken, we went a bit further in, and then I was taken away before Luke even did anything."

"The Yulian seal in Akzeriuth had already been broken?" Teodoro remarked. "Hmm, that is not good at all. It could be because the Score predicted its fall though. If that is indeed it, then St. Binah and Chesedonia are not in any danger, their fall is not predicted in the Score."

"Grandfather, is there anything else you can tell us about the passage rings?"

"It would require a Seventh Fonist to be able to use them, even if the Yulian seal was broken. Most Seventh Fonists would find the task very difficult. There is little information that remains about how to use them that wasn't lost."

"Do you know anything else?" Ion questioned.

"No, Fon Master. You are welcome to browse the books we have to see if they are of any help. Tear can show you where they may be found."

"Thank you, Grandfather."

"Of course, Tear. Fon Master, is there anything else you need from me?"

"No, Teodoro. You have been a great help."

-----

Luke found himself within the field that composed of his mind and it appeared much like the beginning of spring. The grass, while mostly covering the field, was beginning to peek through the ground, just like a newly seeded field after the first spring rains.

He remembered how it had been the last time he had been here, the grass had just been starting to grow. Now it almost completely covered the ground. Not only that, but if he put his hand down on the ground, the grass was taller than his hand was. That was much more than when he had seen Kiran here.

The sun still shined brightly and was almost back to its original position of directly overhead. It was definitely a good sign along with the signs outwardly that he would recover swiftly.

He looked towards the wall in time to see Kiran come through. He got up and walked closer to his friend and brother to tell him the wonderful news.

"Luke! I was trying to contact you, but you weren't responding!" Kiran exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. I just got tired after waking up for a short time," Luke explained to him with a smile on his face.

"Wait...did you just say what I think you did? You have been able to wake up?!" Luke nodded to him in response. "That's wonderful! I'm so happy to hear it!"

Luke's response was cut off by Kiran hugging him so eagerly that he caused Luke to fall over backwards. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" He asked with genuine concern. He got up off of Luke and pulled him up.

Luke smiled at Kiran's concern. "I'm not going to break. It doesn't even seem like I can get hurt here."

"Except if you fall off the edge."

"Or if you are here when I do fall off."

"Well, since I can't hurt you here; why don't we practice if you feel up to it?"

"Sure. What do you want to start with?" Luke asked. "Would it even work to practice here?"

"I honestly have no idea until we try it," Kiran admitted. "Would you prefer to learn how to fend off my control to or control me first?"

"Hmm, maybe if I learn how to control you, I can more easily fend off your control. But let's promise right now that we will never use this unless either of our lives are in danger and there is no other way to deal with it," Luke held out his hand and waited for Kiran's response.

Kiran clasped Luke's outstretched hand, "Agreed. This is only for life threatening situations where there is no other solution."

"So how did you figure out you could do this?"

"By accident, honestly. During the battle in the Zao Ruins I was watching you carefully so I could try to help you out. When I was giving you that advice, I was also imagining how it would work, and then somehow I made you do it."

"Hmm, did you do anything special?"

"Well, we did have the connection open. Maybe I projected what I imagined onto you and that pushed you to do it?"

"I could try that."

"Try to see if we can have the connection open while here first. That seemed to be important in using that ability"

Luke tried to open the connection between them as he had done so earlier, but he couldn't find Kiran's mind no matter how hard he tried. Could it be that he was unable to find it because Kiran's consciousness was within his own mind at this time? He stopped trying after a time and shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"I can't get the connection to open while we are here. I just can't find you even though you are standing right in front of me."

"My being here could be enough. Try to think of me doing something other than standing her in front of you."

"Anything in particular I should think of?"

"Any simple movement should be enough for now. It's definitely much simpler than making you use your hyperresonance."

"Is that hard to do then?"

"For me it is. I'm not actually very good at creating a hyperresonance the way you are, so it's hard for me to get you to use it."

"You aren't?"

Kiran shook his head. "I don't know why. It just doesn't come easily to me. The rest of it does."

"I would offer to help you, but it may not be a good idea."

"I completely agree. Van wants me for that ability. It wouldn't do us any good if I were to get better at it. Anyway, let's get on with this; you need some way to protect yourself."

Luke tried to concentrate on Kiran doing something besides just standing there in front of him. He had trouble focusing though; he just couldn't stand the idea of forcing Kiran to do something against his will. "I-I don't know if I can do this…"

"Luke, I trust you. You wouldn't intentionally hurt me. I would rather let you take over my actions than let anyone force me to hurt you. Please…" he pleaded.

"You really feel that you will be forced to hurt me?"

"If you go against Van, it's bound to happen unless you can free me. Have you found a way to do that yet?"

"No…but I'm going to find a way to free you from that Curse Slot. Even if I have to kill Sync myself!"

"Nothing against you, Luke, but you're nowhere near the level of skill it would take to kill him. I didn't save your life to see you get killed for me. I'd rather you stayed in Baticul with your wife and daughter, to be honest. You're much more needed than I am."

"How can you even think you aren't needed?"

"I didn't say that. You have a family. You are to inherit the throne of Kimlasca. There are many people who need you. Think about that before you do anything rash for me, please?"

"You have a family too now. The only way I would stay in Baticul is if you stayed there too. You're just as important to me as Natalia and Evelina are. And you do realize that with being a part of the family, you are now in line to inherit also."

"Only if something happens to you. Look, we're getting nowhere with this. Just promise me you won't act rashly. If you are going to come after me, then make sure you have a sound plan that won't get you hurt. That's all I ask."

"I will."

"So let's get back to what we were doing before. If you want to succeed, you'll have to be able to defend yourself against me."

"Kiran, I really can't do this. I just can't concentrate enough. Let's try again later."

"Fine. We can try again later. I should probably be going anyway."

"Kiran, please be careful while you're in Daath."

"I will. I'm not in any immediate danger here. Really, you shouldn't worry so much," He walked closer to Luke and hugged him. "You just concentrate on getting better for now."

Luke hugged Kiran in return. "I'll try not to worry. Just keep me updated and I will worry a lot less. Of course, if you would tell me what's been bothering you, that would help too."

Kiran released Luke. "I can't do that, not yet at least," He started to walk off towards the wall. "Don't worry about it. I'm making a bigger deal about it than I should, that's all."

Luke was about to respond, but before he could, Kiran stepped through the wall and prevented Luke from being able to say anything more on the issue.

Just what was bothering Kiran?

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	24. Sticky Situations

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Well, now that November is almost over, I can say that NaNoWriMo ended well for me. I won with over 53,000 words written in the whole month! That will bring this up to chapter 27 once everything is posted.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

It was nearly first light when Kiran woke after his talk with Luke; it really had taken a lot longer than he thought it would. It was a shame that Luke hadn't caught on yet, but it could have been where they were, his condition, or even his lack of wanting to hurt his friend. 

At least it was only to be another monotonous day of paperwork and he wasn't being sent out on any missions for the time being. The only thing bad about the paperwork was that it was indeed a reminder of all that he had lost. But when he considered the fact that if things had gone as planned; he wouldn't even be alive, this wasn't all that bad.

All things considered, if it wasn't for Van having broken his word, he wouldn't mind being here at all. It was Van's actions in Akzeriuth that bothered him the most. He didn't even blame Sync for his part, since Sync was just following orders. Van had been the one who ordered the Curse Slot to be put on Kiran when he was younger because he had accidentally found out what his purpose was. He still remembered his reaction to that discovery. He hated it. Hated the fact that this fate had been laid out for him, hated his original who was so much more important than he was.

That fact alone was the source of his fear of the future so long as he bore the Curse Slot. He didn't remember every detail of what had happened the first time it had been invoked, but he could recall the memories of that time coming up into his mind. That was why he didn't want Luke coming near him while he still had the Curse Slot. He could very well end up seriously hurting Luke again, and this time there might be no saving him.

He just had to hope somehow he would come up with a way out of this. With that in mind, he finished getting ready for the day, putting on the last pieces of his uniform. He did wonder when he would be issued a new uniform, seeing as he was no longer a God-General and that was what his current uniform indicated.

Kiran noticed a note under his door just as he was about to leave. It was from Sync and while it took a few moments to decipher his horrible writing, he was eventually able to read it. He smiled, Sync really wasn't that bad after all. It just simply said that Kiran could take an hour to make sure he actually gets a decent meal. He had heard rumors that Sync wasn't that bad to work for. Those who worked hard would be rewarded and treated well and it was said that he didn't punish for failure, unless the failure was due to laziness or negligence. Kiran tucked the note into his pocket for now and since he had an hour to kill, and was ordered to eat breakfast, he had better go do so.

He walked down to the mess hall to get breakfast and found himself flagged down by someone on the way down there. When he turned to see who it was, he noticed Dist's assistant, Reiner.

Kiran remembered the young Oracle Knight from their previous encounters. He didn't hold a very high rank, but with his dedication, he would go far, as long as Dist didn't hold him back. It was odd for Kiran to have another Oracle Knight to seek out his attention. The only ones who ever had were the former members of 6th Division and the other God-Generals.

"Reiner, how are you this morning?"

"Ah, Kiran. I was hoping to find you. I heard you got transferred to being Sync's assistant. Since I am in a similar position to you, I thought maybe I could help you adjust."

"You heard right, Reiner. But you didn't hear anything else?"

"Nah. I don't believe the rest of it. If you were a traitor like they said, you wouldn't have gotten off so lightly. You might have done something wrong, but it couldn't be that."

Kiran kept quiet. He couldn't really deny what Reiner said, but he couldn't say it was truthful either. It was nice to have a vote of confidence, maybe others would feel the same, rather than wonder why Van let him off so easily. Instead he decided to just allow Reiner to keep talking.

"Anyway, you want to talk over breakfast? It would be nice to get to know someone else in the same position as me. You're lucky though, I hear Sync isn't so bad to work for. As long as you do the work, he'll leave you alone."

Kiran thought about it for a moment. It wouldn't be bad to get to know Reiner. The Oracle Knight didn't seem like a bad sort and having a friend in the same position he was couldn't hurt. "Sure. Sounds good to me. How long do you have before you have to report in to Dist?"

"At least an hour, Dist isn't an early riser. How long do you have?"

"About an hour."

"Plenty of time for us to eat and talk then. If you have any questions about what it's like to be a God-General's assistant, I'd be happy to answer them."

"Thanks, Reiner. It's really nice of you to offer that."

"It's no problem. I'm kind of hoping we could talk more often. You're probably the only one who could really understand what it's like. Let's go in, we definitely don't want to be late. Dist would rant for the rest of the day if I was, and I hear Sync doesn't tolerate lateness."

"You're right about that one. Let's get going."

The walked into the mess hall and got breakfast and sat down at a table in an empty corner. "So, Reiner, what sort of things does Dist have you do really?"

"Mostly boring busywork. I compile reports from the other researchers, record test results, order supplies, stuff like that."

"That doesn't sound too bad. You seemed like you didn't like it though."

"Don't get me wrong, it's really not that bad. I'm not a genius like Dist is. The only bad thing is that he gets upset really easily and he usually takes it out on me."

"How does he take it out on you? He doesn't hurt you, does he?"

"No, never! He just rants and raves for hours about how Nepenthes said something to upset him yet again. Or how the other God-Generals always ignore him." Reiner explained. "Oh, sorry!" He suddenly exclaimed as he remembered Kiran's former position, "He never complained about you, Kiran. I honestly didn't know anything about you until the rumors started going around when you came back."

"I took no offense. What kind of rumors though?"

"Well, you can probably guess that everyone is talking about how 6th Division got disbanded. Nobody knows why, it was all so sudden. All the members of 6th Division haven't even gotten their new assignments yet."

"Yeah, only about half have received assignments."

"Exactly. So with how sudden that was, everyone started speculating on why it happened. The most common rumor seems to be some crap about you being a traitor to the Order and the Commandant let you off easy because of your position. That is so stupid. If anything, I would think the Commandant would punish a God-General even quicker if that was true. Don't you agree?"

Kiran hated lying, but he knew that there was likely going to be something to quash those rumors. It wouldn't do at all for people to think he was above punishments that others would normally receive. He might as well start with Reiner, but keep it vague until he knew what story he was supposed to tell. "Yeah. If that were true, he would be sure to make an example of me. If a God-General could get away with treason, then everyone could, right?"

"Yeah. That's exactly why I think that rumor is stupid. It was probably just something minor you did, but since you were a God-General, your punishment was much worse."

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it."

"That really sucks. Makes me glad I'm a nobody. If I don't get something done in time, I just get yelled at. Maybe I might get punishment, but nothing compared to what you got. I don't even have rank to lose."

"I'm sure you will get promoted eventually. The other God-Generals definitely have noticed your talent. Look at how Nepenthes wants to steal you away from Dist."

"Nepenthes will do anything to annoy Dist though. I don't know what problem they have with one another, but they do hate each other."

"You don't have any idea?"

"I have noticed Dist rants more when Nepenthes makes him look like a fool in front of Cantabile than when he's made to look like a fool normally, but that's it."

"So have you ever gotten to see his famed revenge journal?"

"Nope. If he really has one, he keeps it well hidden. There would probably be more of a chance of finding out why we are researching about replicas than his revenge journal."

"Replicas?"

"Oh crap! I wasn't supposed to say that. You won't tell anyone, will you?" he pleaded.

"Don't worry. I already knew a bit about it. I heard there's some research going on in Belkend about them."

Reiner lowered his voice. "Yeah. That's one of the spots where they are being made, due to it's proximity to the materials. I don't know much more than that, just the rumors about replicas being a part of the Oracle Knights, supposedly one of them became a God-General even."

"Really? I don't recall hearing that one. Do you know who it is?"

"Nope. Some guessed it was you, because of all the mystery about your appearance. Some think it's Sync cause of the mask, but you know how everyone jokes about him and his mask."

"Yeah, he even wears it while eating. He probably even sleeps with it on."

Reiner laughed. "I wouldn't be surprised. He's always fully dressed and out in no time during those stupid nightly fire drills. But then so is Legretta."

"Have you ever seen Dist's pajamas?"

"No, actually I haven't."

Kiran smiled. "Last time they were pink and purple. Arietta commented about how if they were any smaller, she would think he stole them from the Fon Master Guardians."

Reiner laughed out loud at that comment. "Man, it must be so interesting to work with the God-Generals like you did. Even if only a few of the rumors are true, they sound like very interesting people to work with."

"Interesting is a kind way to put it. Trust me on this, Reiner. It's just good not all of them are like Dist. I don't think we could handle it."

"Yeah. If crazy genius was in the dictionary, his picture would be there as an example of one. The others all seem like crazy geniuses in their own way."

"Yeah, that's about the sum of it."

"Makes me wonder what your thing was. But if you can't talk about it, that's fine. I'm sure you're very talented, or else you wouldn't have made it that far at your age."

"It's kind of hard to explain, so I don't really talk about it much."

"It's no problem. If it's really that complex, I probably wouldn't understand anyway. I still wonder how I landed in research and development."

"Why do you say that?"

"I'm only good at doing busy work. I don't understand one bit of all that complex stuff they are working on. Everyone else has some talent in mathematics, science or some other field."

"But yet Dist won't let go of you. You must have something that he finds useful."

"Yeah. Neat handwriting and a willingness to listen to him rant it seems. Anyway, it's probably time for us to go report in for the day. Thanks for listening. I meant what I said, if you ever need anything, just ask."

"I will. Same goes to you Reiner."

"If you happen to have your lunch at noon, come find me here, ok?"

"I will."

"See you later then Kiran. Good luck to you in your new position."

Reiner got up took his tray up front to give back to the kitchen workers. Kiran followed right after him and they both went to report to their respective superiors for their daily duties. Kiran was glad that Reiner had taken the time to speak with him. It would be nice to have someone to talk to, and Reiner definitely was a decent person. Reiner was definitely not worthy of his own low opinion of himself. He actually had some very good insights about how things worked which could prove useful at some point, if he could win over Reiner's friendship.

-----

Luke lazily blinked a few times as he awoke to the morning sun streaming through his window. Was it really morning already? He knew that his last attempt at waking had worn him out, but he hadn't expected to sleep over half a day. It had barely begun to get dark out when he had given in to the desire to rest, now the sun was halfway up the sky.

In spite of that, Luke was just glad to be feeling stronger already. That, however, didn't seem to quell the feeling of hunger he was quickly developing as he realized he couldn't even recall the last time he had eaten anything. He didn't see Natalia anywhere, so he looked around to see if maybe she had thought to leave him something. He really hated the orders that forced him to remain in bed; but then, if Natalia wasn't around, how was she to know if he did or did not follow orders?

The one thing that bothered him the most was that even Kiran wanted him to remain in Baticul where he would be safe. They didn't even know what Van was up to. How could he be so sure that Baticul was even a safe place to be? Akzeriuth certainly hadn't been, and not just because of the miasma that had infested the area.

More than anything, he wanted to make sure his family would remain safe.

But to do that, he needed to know what Van was planning. What were his goals? Where was he going next? Who else was he planning to sacrifice? There was so much he needed to know, not to mention finding a way to get Kiran out of his grasp. Why did he need hyperresonance to begin with? Luke desperately needed to know these things, if only just so he wouldn't cause the deaths of thousands more innocents, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

More than anything, he wanted to make sure his family would remain safe. To do that, he needed to know what Van was up to so he couldn't cause thousands more innocents to die just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That, however, required him back on his feet, and fast. He wasn't going to stay here and let things get worse when he knew there were ways he could help. He didn't want to leave his family, but it was a sacrifice he was more than willing to make if it ensured they would stay safe. Natalia would eventually understand.

Luke struggled for a bit to sit up. It seemed movement still wasn't coming too easily too him, and he had a feeling that this was going to be the hardest part. He didn't understand why, but his body didn't seem to respond the way he wanted it to. Once he finally got himself to a sitting position, he noticed Natalia had kindly left him a tray of food to eat along with some books to read and a note.

Luke,

I had very much wanted to be here when you woke up again, but you slept so long and I had so much to do for Father today. I had the maids bring you something more substantial to eat and picked some books for you to read. Please do as the doctor asked and stay in bed today. If you need anything, ring for one of the maids. They have been informed that you are to stay in bed, also, so don't think about trying to convince them otherwise.

Your mother should be by at some point in the day. If you want to see Evelina, ask her. I don't see any problem with you seeing our daughter as much as possible, she needs to get to know her father.

Anyway, please try to relax today. Don't feel a need to remain awake until I get back. I may be very late. If you get tired, I understand. You will be back to your old self in time, don't rush things. I love you.

Love,

Natalia

Somehow, he wasn't in the least bit surprised that Natalia enlisted the maids' help in making sure he remained in bed like ordered. He folded the note back up and placed it on the table and grabbed the tray and then the books. He started eating while he looked over what Natalia had chosen.

He had to smile when he saw what she chose. She definitely knew him well. She couldn't know exactly what he was wanting to research right now, but she picked some interesting topics. He hadn't even realized that the library had something about replicas, but yet here he held a book on the basics of replicas and fomicry. The other books were on parenting and the development of a child. She guessed two subjects he would have an interest in right off the bat. Kiran and his daughter. The only other thing he would want to find out more about was the Curse Slot placed on Kiran, but Natalia didn't know about that.

He put them all aside other than the one on replicas and fomicry. It definitely wouldn't hurt for him to know more about Kiran, and maybe that would even help them develop the abilities to connect with each other. Kiran definitely had a distinct advantage in that regard, seeing as he had spent more time with the knowledge that he was a replica than Luke had spent knowing there was a replica of himself.

He continued eating from the tray as he read the book. It pertained mostly to fomicry itself and dealt more with making replicas of objects rather than people. But it did point out that the theory would be the same even if a replica was being made of a living creature, just that making replicas of living creatures had been banned for ethical reasons.

One thing he did find interesting was that the inventor of fomicry had actually been a young boy by the name of Jade Balfour. It was rumored that he had been nine years old when he created the first replica of an object. He disappeared from the field after declaring that replication of living creatures was to be banned, and never returned to it again. Since then, others had picked up where he had left off, perfecting the process further.

Hmmm, so there _was_ a ban on creating replicas, but as the others found out from his father's journal, they were being made by the Order of Lorelei. Kiran was one example. Who knew how many others existed besides Kiran?

The book did mention that the process itself was simple, but it did require complex machinery and materials that were not readily available. The process also expended numerous Seventh Fonons, without them, the replica would be unstable and eventually break apart within a few days of its creation. But this was still a risk, even with Seventh Fonons, and very few replicas survived.

All that had to be done to extract data from the object to be replicated, was perform a very simple arte; one simple enough even for many of those who had difficulty with fonic artes. But while it was simple to extract the data, making use of the data was a complex process. A very skilled fonist could indeed make a replica directly through fonic artes, but that method had fallen out of use once it was found to make unstable replicas. The original creator used fonic artes, but it was another who further perfected the process by inventing fon machines that could read the data and create the replica. That particular scientist's name had been Saphir Ortion Neis. He also had all but disappeared from the field.

It was rather interesting how the creators of this field had disappeared, but yet replicas were still being made. Evidently someone picked up where they left off, or at least one of the creators was doing it in secret. The original creator was of interest though. The name Jade wasn't all that common, as far as he knew, but yet he knew someone else with the name of Jade. But Jade's last name wasn't Balfour, it was Curtiss. Other than that, he was indeed quite knowledgeable about replicas, and also skilled with fonic artes, and it seemed the original theory had been based off fonic artes. If he ever saw Jade again, he would have to ask where Jade had learned about fomicry.

He read more beyond the history of the field to drawbacks of creating replicas of objects. It was noted that beyond the fact that creating a stable replica was indeed a difficult thing, the extraction of replica data could also have an adverse effect on the original. The original could even be completely destroyed in the process of extracting data. It was noted that when data was still being extracted from living creatures that it could also lead to sickness and even death of the original.

Wow, Luke realized just how lucky he had been to have suffered no adverse effects from Kiran's creation. He hadn't even realized that someone had been able to extract any data from him. But then, Kiran had been created over six years ago. He had been 11 back then. How could he have known? Whoever had done it, had been very sneaky about it.

Now that he thought about it, he remembered experiencing a strange illness, after a training session with Van when he was ten. No one else had caught it from him and he had eventually recovered, but even now, no one could explain it. Could that have been when it happened? Was Van the one who extracted the data from him all those years ago? It had to have been Van. No one else that he knew of could have had that knowledge and would have given it to Van.

Luke couldn't find any information about the connection he had with Kiran. Even with what little had been said about replicas of living creatures, not once was such a thing mentioned. In fact, it was stated that the few replicas that had been made of living creatures had been mostly unstable and ended up breaking apart. It was unknown why this happened. Another notable fact Luke came across was that while fomicry acted like a copy machine, the replica would have a different fonon frequency than its original. Isofons could not be created through fomicry.

He finished the book and gained no further insights from it. It didn't have the answers he sought, but at least he did know a bit more. Van could indeed extract replica data. Who knew how much he had extracted from others already. It definitely seemed like Kiran wasn't the only replica of a living being that had been made. He put that book back on the table and was about to start on one of the other books when the door opened and Natalia entered.

"Luke! You're awake again. I hope you weren't too worried to find me gone. How are you feeling?"

"A lot better. I've been awake since the morning now and don't feel in the least bit tired now. Thanks for leaving the books and tray."

"I couldn't have you deciding that you would leave your bed, could I?"

He smiled. "No, most definitely not. You worry too much."

"Perhaps. I admit, I wanted to check up on you since I had a bit of time."

"See? How am I to ever get stronger if you don't let me try to do things as I normally would?"

"Can't you just be content to relax and get better? I would worry less if you listened to the doctor and stayed in bed without question until you are stronger."

"Only for a few more days at most will I be able to stand it. You know I hate inactivity."

"I know you do. But it's for your own good. I was so worried about you when you were gone, and then when I had heard from Father…"

"What did you hear from him?"

"I accidentally overheard that he sent you to Akzeriuth knowing that you would die there."

"So he did know…I'd heard that as well, but I thought it was a lie."

"Luke, he was so happy that you didn't die. Really, he hated having to send you there, but he had to obey the Score."

"And what happened because of that? Thousands of innocent people died and I was almost among them. And for what, for a promise of prosperity in many years to come? What good is that going to do to the thousands who died because of me?"

"Luke, how could you think that way? You know that we obey the Score because it will bring us prosperity."

"But at what cost? How many others have died to bring us this prosperity? I don't know if I like the idea of sacrificing so many for something so far in the future. There has to be a better way."

"Luke, you shouldn't think like that. It can't be good for your health."

"Natalia, if I had died, would you be able to say the same about the Score? Would you be able to accept it so readily after it took away the person you love? Didn't you feel the same way I do now after you heard from Uncle that I was sent to my death?"

"I really didn't know what to think. I was so upset, and I went into labor prematurely. I really didn't have much time to reflect on what I had heard before I found out that you hadn't died. I-I was so happy when I saw Kiran for the first time and mistook him for you…" She blushed remembering that she had kissed Luke's replica thinking he was her husband.

"Natalia, I don't blame you for that. I didn't even know I had a replica until right before Akzeriuth's destruction. He and I had been speaking from a distance before that, but I didn't realize he was my replica. I thought he was just someone with a strange ability to speak with me through my dreams and chose to appear as me to hide his identity. I don't even blame you for your reaction afterwards, he doesn't either."

"So he really can speak to you even when you are unconscious?"

"Yes. I know Mother has claimed him as one of the family. I'm happy she did so, he wanted a family so much."

"She was upset that he had to leave so soon."

"It was for the best. He didn't want to put any of us in danger. He was going to be forced to return to Daath against his will and he knew it would have been much worse had he been here when that happened."

"What happened then? He didn't get hurt, did he?"

"Nothing that he couldn't recover from. He seemed fine the last time we spoke."

"That's good. I don't hate him or anything and I would definitely like a chance to get to know him better, especially since you seem to like him so much."

"It's kind of nice to have a brother. You know I had wished for a brother or a sister, you did too."

"I did, but I wouldn't want one in that way. It's just kind of strange to know that someone could make a replica of you without you even knowing it. Doesn't it scare you to know that was done?"

"My only choice is to deal with it. By the way, thanks for leaving the book on fomicry and replicas. It was nice to learn more seeing as I have one."

"I had thought you would find that one more interesting. I didn't even realize we had such books, but Father mentioned it. He said at one point fomicry was studied as an easier way to create things, since we have to import so much, but it was abandoned because of how hard it was to create replicas. I had never known that."

"It does seem that we have much to learn before it comes our time to rule this country, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but Father has many years before he has to give the throne to you. When the time comes, we will rule our country justly. And we will make it better, just as we promised those years ago, right?"

"Yes, just as we promised."

"Anyway, I must be going. Is there anything I can send up to you?"

"This may sound odd, but if you can find anything at all about something called a Curse Slot, could you bring that to me?"

"A Curse Slot? I have never even heard of such a thing."

"Neither have I. But Kiran has one. As long as he has it, he won't be able to leave Daath. I want to know how it can be removed from him, if that is even possible."

"I will do what I can. But I don't even know if we have knowledge of such a thing. And even if we do, I don't know where to look for it."

"It allows someone else to control his actions. One of the God-Generals placed it on him. Maybe you could bring me something about fonic artes or the Order of Lorelei?"

"I'll have someone look for anything we have on those subjects. I will also send up another tray for you if you're hungry. Just promise me you'll try to relax and get some rest if you need it."

"I will, at least for today."

"No, until the doctor says you can get out of bed."

"Natalia, I won't promise that. I can't regain my strength by lying in bed all day. Eventually I have to get out of bed and get back to my normal activities."

"Then promise me at least a week, please?"

"Fine, but no more than a week, unless the doctor says I can get out of bed sooner."

"I doubt that, if anything he will want you to remain in bed longer. Anyway, I really must go. I love you"

"I love you too."

-----

Kiran once again found himself alone, left to his own devices in Sync's office. He definitely didn't find things too bad at all. It may be seriously boring, but at least he wasn't being forced to do something he was completely against.

He had to admit; if it stayed like this, and Van made no further moves to harm anyone, he could be very satisfied with this simple life. Sync was actually treating him with respect so far, even with his obvious knowledge of what Kiran had done. He had spoken with Sync about what sort of story he should tell for the sake of the others. In the end, they had agreed on a story about him failing his last mission to squelch the rumors going around for the time being.

It was nearing sundown, about the same time Sync had returned to check on him the previous day. Kiran had finished the task that he had been given the previous day, and considering that he had been given until tomorrow to finish it, he felt he was doing quite well. There was only a small number of papers left to finish and he knew that he could have it done within an hour.

Kiran heard the door open admitting a disgruntled looking Sync. His masked superior was carrying the pile of papers that he had taken in the morning when Kiran reported in. He put them down on another table in the room. Kiran could hear him making some comment under his breath about Dist being a whiny idiot, but before Kiran could inquire, Sync looked over at him and upon seeing Kiran's progress on his work, looked a bit less upset.

"So what progress have you made, Kiran?" He asked.

"Nearly complete, sir. If I could have another hour, it would be finished," Kiran informed him.

"It can wait until tomorrow. You are dismissed. If I were you, I would stay away from the research wing. Dist is in a very foul mood today, and you know what that means."

"A lot of yelling?"

Sync smirked. "Have you forgotten his freakish obsession with replicas and the fact that you are one? If you want to avoid being his new test subject, stay far away."

Kiran groaned. He had forgotten about Dist's strange passion for fomicry, since he hadn't bothered him in quite some time. He still remembered a time when Dist wanted to run tests on Kiran and do research with him as the subject. Dist had eventually been forced to stop trying to get Kiran as a test subject because of Kiran's rank. The others wouldn't stand for Dist using a God-General as a test subject, no matter how much it might benefit the order.

"Anyway, I did what I could. But you know how he is when he's in a bad mood, he likes to mess around with things he shouldn't. So I advise that you stay away. I told him you don't have permission to be a test subject and you have more important things to do for me," Sync explained. "So get out of here before he comes back begging. Oh, and bring your weapon with you tomorrow. I got you scheduled for some training with Largo. Report in at the same time you did today. Got it?"

"Got it, sir. Thanks for the tip. I'll keep far away from the research wing tonight," Kiran replied as he walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. It didn't take especially good hearing to be able to tell that Dist was ranting at the moment. His loud, though unintelligible, yelling actually echoed throughout the halls. What could have possibly brought this one on? Kiran racked his brains but he still couldn't think of any instance where Dist had ever gotten this bad.

The worst part was, he couldn't figure out where the yelling was coming from, which made avoiding the crazed researcher that much more difficult. All he could do was keep his eyes and ears open and be ready to run if he saw Dist coming.

Kiran really felt for Reiner right now. The poor young recruit had to be getting an earful and Kiran just hoped he could figure a way out before Dist caused the poor kid to go deaf.

Kiran decided the best thing he could do was go eat something and hope that he could get back to his quarters before Dist found him. Maybe Reiner found a way to get away from Dist and could explain what happened.

On his way to the mess hall, he almost ran into Reiner, literally. "Oh thank goodness I found you Kiran! You've got to get out of sight. Dist is looking for you!"

"Damn it. I thought Sync told him I don't have permission to become his new test subject."

"He's pissed at Sync right now. So I doubt anything Sync said will matter much to him. He can't take it out on Sync, but he sure can take it out on Sync's assistant."

"What in the hell happened? Sync came back grumbling about Dist and said very little other than warning me to avoid him."

"I'll explain what I can. Do you know of a place where we can get out of sight?"

"Only place I can think of is my own quarters. I can at least lock the door there."

"Let's go then. You really need to get out of sight before Dist himself comes looking for you. He sent me to find you, but I'm not going to let him submit you to that. That and Sync outranks him and has already denied permission. If I had my choice of who to run afoul of, I would pick Dist over Sync any day."

"Good choice there."

They walked to the wing where the God-Generals all had their quarters. It was far enough away from wherever Dist was at that moment that things were much quieter. Kiran unlocked his door, Reiner followed him in. Kiran then bolted the door behind him.

Kiran sat down on his bed, letting Reiner have the one chair that existed in his room. Reiner didn't seem to notice the fact that the room was actually rather barren. It was a lot smaller and far less grand than one would expect the quarters of a God-General to be. If he did notice, he was decent enough not to comment. "So what happened then? I hope Dist didn't yell at you too much."

"No, thankfully he sent me off looking for you not long after Sync left. But basically what happened was that Sync came and spoke with Dist about something."

"Did you catch what it was?"

"No. I was on the other side of the lab when Sync came in and they weren't speaking very loudly, well until Dist started yelling."

"What did he say?"

"He screamed out 'No! That can't be true!' and then I heard the sound of glass breaking and he started screaming even more. Sync couldn't stop laughing at that point, which only seemed to make Dist more irate."

"Did you see or hear anything else?"

"He yelled 'Not again! Damn you Nepenthes!' then screamed for me to find the adhesive remover. I looked everywhere, but it was gone. It's a common prank to be played to be honest. It's not that unusual for Nepenthes to steal materials from us, or he replaces some of the chemicals with a rather strong glue mixture. He mixes it with something to make it more liquid, but it's still a strong adhesive. I have to admit, he's pretty smart to have come up with something like that. It just has no practical purpose other than annoying Dist to no end."

"Don't tell me, the glue ended up all over Dist, didn't it?" Kiran remarked, trying not to laugh himself.

Reiner was trying very hard not to laugh at this point, he was barely able to speak now, "Y-yeah. He must have put his hands in his lap for some reason, because when I came to tell him I couldn't find the adhesive remover, his hands were glued to, well, I think you can guess." Reiner finally managed before he started laughing himself.

"No way! Did he really glue his hands to his pants?"

Reiner couldn't speak, he was laughing too hard, so he just nodded. Finally he was able to control his laughter and he continued. "Yes. His hands were glued between his legs. He tried to get Sync to help him get his hands free. At first Sync refused, but Dist was yelling so much that he gave in and tried pulling his hands off. All that accomplished was sending Sync flying backwards into a nearby bookshelf. His mask actually almost slipped off, but he got a hold of it real fast before we could see anything. He was not pleased with Dist at all and left after telling Dist that you won't become his test subject as a piece of revenge."

"I wonder what Sync said to upset him so much?"

"I don't know. Once Sync left, Dist started muttering something about 'She can't be…not to him…' So it must have to do with some female he knows. Then I got sent off to find you while Dist tried to free his hands."

"Some female he knows? Hmmm…" Kiran mulled.

"I wish I knew more, even if it was to warn her about this."

"Does he show interest in any women?"

"Besides getting more upset when Nepenthes makes a fool of him in front of Cantabile? No he doesn't"

"Whatever it was, it must be bad if he wants revenge on Sync."

"That's all I could figure out. For some reason he seems real interested in studying you. Could it have to do with that special ability you said was too complicated to explain?"

"That's probably it."

"It must be really special. Dist only tends to be interested in really strange stuff. You're lucky to have such a special ability, if only I were unique like that…"

"Don't say that Reiner. You don't know what it's like to be sought out by people like Dist for study because you have something no one else has. I don't want to be a lab experiment, would you?"

"No way. That's why I won't bring you to him. I don't care what sort of punishment I get for not following that order, but I will say I couldn't find you."

"If anyone asks, I didn't see you tonight."

"Thanks, Kiran. Anyway, I better go before someone comes looking for me. Good night Kiran."

"Good night Reiner."

-----

Tear entered Yulia City's library with a tray full of food for all of them. They knew this was going to be a long endeavor. Not only because of the sheer number of books, but because the information they were looking for was likely to only be briefly mentioned in the book, if it was mentioned at all.

"Find anything of use yet?" She asked.

"Not a thing," Anise mentioned. "At the rate we are going, it will be weeks before we find anything, if we even do!"

"That's because you read too slow, Anise."

Anise and Tear looked near the Colonel and saw that he had quite the pile of finished books already. Only Ion came close having half that many. "How do you get through those so fast, Colonel?!"

"I know how to figure out the contents in a short period of time. There is a reason why books have tables of contents and headings."

"Anise, have you been reading the whole book?" Ion smiled at her.

"No! I have looked through them, but not as fast as the Colonel."

"Anise, try reading the table of contents first. Then decide if you will go further. Information on what we need to know more about likely will come in information about passage rings themselves, Dawn Age technology, or similar items."

"What about hyperresonance? That would be useful to know more about."

"Sadly, there is very little known on the subject. Luke and Kiran are one of a kind. Much study has been done on the Seventh Fonon itself, but in reference to reading the Score and healing. Hyperresonances are so rare that it is difficult to study them."

"Why are they so rare?" Anise inquired.

"Put simply, to create a hyperresonance, in usual circumstances, it requires two Seventh Fonists interacting under special conditions. It has yet to be found what the special conditions are exactly. Thusly, a hyperresonance cannot easily be created to study."

"No wonder Luke keeps his ability a secret. It sounds like many researchers would love to get a hold of him for testing," Tear mentioned.

"I don't doubt they thought of it, at least those among the Order have to know of his existence," Jade agreed.

"I wonder if they've studied Kiran. Shouldn't he have the same abilities Luke has since he's Luke's replica?" Tear wondered.

"Replicas usually don't possess the same level of ability as their originals. While Luke can create a hyperresonance on his own, Kiran may not be able to." Jade explained.

"But he did admit to controlling Luke, wouldn't he have to know something of the ability to be able to make Luke use it?" Tear questioned.

"It depends on how the power works. I could tell you to cast your fonic hymns, Tear, though you aren't forced to, since I lack the ability to do so. I don't need any knowledge of how you use them to command you to do something, do I?" Jade mentioned.

"No, you just need the knowledge that she can do it," Ion answered for Tear. "Unless an ability caused you to completely take control of someone's body, you wouldn't need to know how to use their abilities, just that they have them."

"That just confirms all the more that the Order is fully aware of Luke's ability, as well as Kiran's ability to control Luke. It makes those two very dangerous if they're together, at least for the time being," Jade mentioned.

"I wonder if we can find anything to help Kiran among these books?" Tear wondered.

"Doubtful. Though it can't hurt to keep an eye out," Jade suggested.

"What's wrong with Kiran? He seemed perfectly fine when he came back to Daath," Ion inquired.

"Oh that's right, you weren't there, Fon Master," Tear recalled. "In Akzeriuth, Sync forced Kiran to control Luke and use his hyperresonance to destroy the passage ring. And now Sync seems to be keeping a close watch on Kiran."

"Sync did? Hmm…I wonder."

"What is it, Ion?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about what Tear said."

They all continued to read through the books, finding absolutely nothing of any use. None of the books they had picked out gave them any additional insight, and by the end of the day, only the information Teodoro had given them proved to be of any use. The books had merely confirmed that information, but had given no further details.

"So what are we to do now, Colonel? We don't know anything more than we did when we started."

"After getting some rest, I will need to return to Grand Chokmah and report to Emperor Peony. If the rest of you have no wish to accompany me, I will take you wherever you may wish on the Tartarus."

"Jade, Anise and I will accompany you. Emperor Peony will most likely have questions that are better for me to answer."

"Ion, your assistance would be appreciated as always. How about you, Tear?"

"I will accompany you, Colonel. I can't stay here and do nothing. If nothing else, I can provide aid to Malkuth if a war comes."

"A healer of your talent would indeed be useful, but we may find out more once we get back to the Outer Lands."

"I hope so. I can't stand doing nothing while my brother is obviously up to something. I only wish we could find out what. I fear by the time we find out, it will be too late."

-----

It was long past sunset when Kiran realized that the earlier chaos involving Dist had almost caused him to forget to try to contact Luke. If he was awake now, he had to be getting worried again.

Kiran opened the connection to him, and was happy to find that Luke was indeed awake, so he had no difficulties finding his way into Luke's mind. _How are you feeling, Luke? _

_Honestly? I'm bored. I want more than anything to help you, but Natalia is badgering me to stay in bed. I honestly feel strong enough to try to walk around a bit, but she made me promise._

_She cares, that's all. You saw how happy she was to see you didn't die, she doesn't want anything to hinder your recovery. Count yourself lucky._

_I still hate it. I never liked lying in bed doing nothing._

_You don't appear to be doing nothing. You seem to be spending your time well doing research._

_It's all I can do right now._

_So what have you found so far then?_

_Nothing on how to remove a Curse Slot yet. I can't even find anything mentioning that, but there are still some books to go through._

_But anything of use yet?_

_I did find some interesting material about fomicry, but they answered my questions more than they gave me any ideas of what Van might be doing._

_What questions did you have?_

_I admit…ever since I found out you were my replica, I wondered how you could have been made and I never knew about it._

_Did you find your answer?_

_Yes. Van must have gotten data from me when I was ten. The book mentioned that the original can sometimes have adverse effects from the gathering of replica data. When I was 10, I did have a very mysterious illness that I recovered from._

_So it was Van then?_

_It has to be. He's the most logical one._

_Well, I did find out the Order has been researching replicas lately. There seem to be a few locations in which the research is being done, but Belkend is among them. Belkend seems to be the ideal location for the researchers since it's near some of the materials according to what I heard._

_Interesting. Do you have any idea how many replicas of humans have been made? Supposedly the creator of fomicry banned their creation._

_None yet. There are definitely ones mixed in with the Oracle Knights according to the rumors. In fact, the rumors were guessing either myself or Sync were replicas because of all the fuss about seeing our faces._

_But didn't Nepenthes wear a mask?_

_Only when leaving Daath. And that was more a recent development due to him being a wanted criminal. Honestly, I think the rumors were referring more to me. Everyone talks about Sync and is curious about why he wears the mask, but he only has to conceal his face. It's also suspected that he's hideously disfigured and which is why he doesn't show his face._

_Speaking of Sync, he hasn't tried to make you do anything, has he?_

_No. He mostly leaves me alone._

_You mentioned you lost your rank, who have they assigned you to?_

_I'm just doing paperwork mostly, that's all._

Luke could tell Kiran was still keeping something from him. He didn't want to say who he was assigned to. If he wasn't assigned, he would say so. _But for who? You aren't saying that and you would have said if you haven't been assigned to someone yet._

_I told you, I am being left alone mostly._

_Kiran, who is giving your orders? I'm not going to let you change the subject on me this time._

_Fine, if you insist on knowing, first you must promise you won't get mad about it._

_I won't. You can't help what happened._

_I've be assigned to Sync to act as his assistant._

_What?! How could Van do that to you?!_

_It's very simple. If I don't follow orders, Sync can ensure my compliance. No other God-General has that advantage. It could honestly be worse, it could have been Dist, or Nepenthes, or Legretta._

_But none of them have the ability to force your compliance._

_But I would be treated horribly on a normal basis even if I followed orders. Sync at least treats me with respect as long as I do the work. Look, I knew you would get upset, that is exactly why I didn't want to tell you._

_Sorry Kiran, if you can deal with it, then I guess I'll have to as well. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to help you get out of there, unless you no longer want that?_

_If it wasn't for Van, and Sync's ability to force my compliance of any order, I wouldn't mind this. I can find more out being within the Order than I can by being outside it._

_So as long as you aren't ordered to do anything too bad, you don't mind it, is that right?_

_Yes. I can communicate with you about what's going on here. Unless things change drastically, it might be for the best for me to remain. _

_You do bring up a good point. I'll still work on finding a way for the Curse Slot to be removed. Once we find out how, then we can speak more on if you will remain or not. Do you agree to that?_

_Yes. _

_And thanks for telling me. It worries me when you hide things from me like that, and it's very obvious when you do. Please don't do it anymore. I want you to trust me._

_Sorry, Luke._

_You don't need to apologize. I understand why you waited. Anyway, I'm feeling a bit tired, do you mind if I cut this short?_

_No, not at all. You definitely need your rest since you're still recovering from Akzeriuth._

-----

The Tartarus docked at Rotelro Bridge which was still under construction. Jade had mentioned before they left that due to the distinct possibility of war, Grand Chokmah may very well have already sealed the ports and the city itself for the security of both itself and the Malkuth Emperor. But for them, it just meant they had a long road ahead of them before they reached the capital.

Along the way, they would have to find their way through Theor Forest, which was well guarded even during times of peace. During a time of potential war, the guard would almost certainly be increased.

Under the best of circumstances, this journey would take two full days. This was not counting any potential setbacks along the road or being discovered by the Malkuth military and getting arrested, which was indeed a possibility, even with Jade's presence.

Luckily, the first day's travel went without a hitch besides the usual monsters, but that they had expected and they fought them off without any issues. Since it was growing dark, they had to find a site to get some rest for the night. They knew Ion was nearing the end of his endurance. He hadn't complained nor had he made any indication of needing any rest, but he had to be feeling tired. The long journey had even Anise feeling weary.

Anise insisted that Ion rest while they made dinner and set up a campsite. Ion wanted to help, so Tear suggested that he sit by the fire and watch their dinner while the rest of them left to gather some needed materials for dinner and to set up camp. He agreed, happy to be of help even in a small way.

Ion was stirring the stew when suddenly the ground began to shake violently. If he hadn't been sitting when it started, he would have definitely lost his balance. Unfortunately, their dinner wasn't so lucky, about half of it spilled from the pot.

From a short distance away, the Fon Master could hear a female shriek. It sounded like Anise. Since the ground was still shaking, it could have simply been that she had lost her balance, but it could very well be something worse. He couldn't see Jade or Tear either, which worried him. He tried to stand up, and almost lost his balance himself, but by the time he had himself to a standing position, the ground had finally stopped shaking.

Ion wasted no time taking off in the direction from which he had heard the scream. It wasn't very far at all, just barely out of sight of where they had set up camp. He found his guardian sprawled on the ground. "Anise! Are you all right?" He exclaimed, holding out a hand to help her back up.

She took his hand and was able to stand. "Yeah. I just lost my balance and couldn't get back up. What was that?"

"I don't know," Ion said thoughtfully.

Jade and Tear found them at that moment and heard Anise's question. "Perhaps it was the remainder of the land near Akzeriuth falling. It had to have only been barely holding on," Jade suggested.

"Yes, that is probably it," Ion mentioned. "The Sephiroth wouldn't have been able to hold it anymore. "

"Isn't that a cause for concern?" Tear mentioned.

"Not really," Jade explained. "No one lived in those areas. It was merely a path to a place that is now gone."

"Anyway, I'm glad everyone is okay. Let's get back to the camp," Ion suggested.

They walked back to the campsite and Ion sat back down in front of the fire and continued stirring the remainder of the stew. He was glad that it didn't burn in the time he spent looking for Anise. However, there was barely enough left to give each of them a meager helping. Tear came over to check on its progress.

"Sorry, Tear. Most of it spilled during the earthquake."

"Don't worry, Fon Master. You couldn't help it. We'll make do somehow. Colonel, do you think there would be any creatures that are edible in this area?"

"As long as you promise not to mention it to the Emperor, I could catch a rappig."

"Oh, we won't!" Ion smiled. "I know Emperor Peony wouldn't like that at all. He so loves his rappigs, especially his cute little Jade."

Tear looked confused at the mention of Jade in the same sentence with rappigs. "What does the Colonel have to do with rappigs?"

"Emperor Peony likes to name his pet rappigs after friends of his." Anise mentioned. "It was really funny when we first met the rappig he named after Jade!"

Tear, you'll understand when you meet him. But if he refers to his cute little Jade, it's the rappig," Ion explained.

Jade sighed. "Emperor Peony is a bit unusual for the ruler of a country. He's a lot more casual than King Ingobert is. Anyway, I will be back shortly with some rappig. Anise, would you care to assist me?"

"Sure Colonel!"

Anise and Jade left to go catch a rappig. It didn't actually take them very long, and soon after they returned with one that would be large enough to sufficiently feed four people. Tear assisted him with preparing it, since she was the only one who had knives handy. Once that was finished, they set the rest of their meal to cook. Tear went ahead and served the remainder of the stew to tide them over while they waited.

They all ate the appetizer in silence, considering everything that had happened recently. It had only been less than two weeks since Akzeriuth's destruction, but a lot had happened over that course of time. It was amazing to consider what had come from what had seemed like a simple mission to keep peace between the two nations. Now they were in a race against time to find out what Van was planning before it killed more innocents as it had in Akzeriuth.

Their thoughts were interrupted as the ground began to shake again. It was as violent as the first time and Anise dropped her bowl, shattering it into tiny pieces. "No! I hadn't finished it yet!" She declared.

"Anise, are you okay?" Tear asked trying not to fall as she moved closer to the young girl. She wanted to make sure none of the pieces had cut her as they shattered.

"I think so."

"You seem to be fine. I don't see any bleeding."

"Everyone, try to remain seated until it's over," Ion suggested. "We don't need anyone getting hurt."

They didn't have to wait long for the ground stopped shaking. "What could be causing this?" Tear asked. "Colonel, are earthquakes normal for this area?"

"No, they aren't." he answered. "In fact, I don't think there had ever been any earthquakes in this area, except for when Hod fell."

"I imagine they were bad when Akzeriuth fell also." Ion mentioned. "The ground there was shaking quite violently as Sync's men were taking me away from there, and we barely made it out before everything was gone."

"Could Van have done something to the Sephiroth for St. Binah? Or perhaps the one in Zao Ruins?" Tear questioned.

"We won't know until with speak with the Emperor. If something is happening in St. Binah, he will have received reports," Jade mentioned. "Something may well have happened while we were in Yulia City."

"Yes," Tear agreed. "We don't feel earthquakes in the Qliphoth. There is nothing we can do until we know what is causing this."

"So is that rappig finished yet?" Anise asked. "I'm starving!"

-----

The group succeeded in making really good time to Theor Forest, putting them just outside of Grand Chokmah. All they had to do was get through the forest, and they would be within the borders of the city itself.

That was easier said than done, however. The moment they entered the forest, two guards came running towards them, leaving another two at the forest entrance still. "Halt! State your name and business here," One of them demanded.

Jade stepped forward to allow them a good look at him, "I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division Malkuth Imperial Forces. I'm here to gain an audience with his Imperial Majesty."

"Colonel Curtiss!" The guard appeared shocked. "We heard you had been lost in Akzeriuth!"

"What you heard was false. I'm standing here before you. His Imperial Majesty could verify my identify as can many other members of the military."

Ion stepped forward, "Please, let us through. I'm Fon Master Ion of the Order of Lorelei. We must speak with his Imperial Majesty."

"It has to be Colonel Curtiss, do you know of anyone else who has red eyes like his?" the guard said to his companion. "Colonel Curtiss, we can let you through, but we can't let the others through without permission from his Imperial Majesty.

"Wait a second, you can't even let Ion through?" Anise declared.

"No, it could be a trap. Even if you are from Daath, we must refuse."

"Anise, please wait here. Once I speak with his Majesty, they'll let you through right away."

"We'll escort you, Colonel Curtiss," The guard commanded. "Your companions may stay here."

Jade and the two guards went further into the forest towards Grand Chokmah, leaving Tear, Ion and Anise to their own devices. About an hour passed when they heard a scream come from within the forest itself. The other two guards by the entrance ran inside the investigate.

"What should we do Fon Master? They did say we should stay here, but I don't like the idea of sitting here while people are getting hurt," Tear inquired.

"I don't either. We should at least investigate that scream. Then we can decide what to do next," Ion suggested.

They ran in the same direction as the other two guards and immediately came upon the source of the earlier scream: a Malkuth soldier, lying on the ground, unconscious. Tear bent over to take a closer look at him and was glad to find that he had merely received a blow to the head and no further injuries. But that in itself was strange. Who would attack and not deal any injuries to those they are attacking? The worst part was, they hadn't seen anyone enter the forest, at least not from where they had been.

"Should we go further in?" Anise inquired.

"I think we should. I can't just ignore people in need," Ion told them.

"Then let's get going," Tear suggested. "Before any of the guards find us."

The forest itself was strangely quiet. Whoever the attacker was, they were being stealthy about it. Every now and then they would hear a scream that silenced as quickly as it came with no sounds or signs of any fighting or struggle. It was all very unusual indeed. The only guards they came upon were all unconscious from blows to the head, in most cases, the blows appeared to have come from behind.

They were nearly to the other side of the forest when a group of Oracle Knights came out from all sides completely surrounding them. "Hand over the Fon Master!"" one of them declared.

"Never!" Anise exclaimed. "You can't have Ion!"

Each of the Oracle Knights drew their swords. They knew they were massively outnumbered. Ion might be powerful, but he couldn't fight in a battle like this. That left only Tear and Anise against more than three times as many Oracle Knights. They also had to make sure Ion remained unharmed. It would be impossible.

Ion was about to say he would go along with them willingly when they heard the sounds of more soldiers arriving. More Oracle Knights that this group? No, it seemed to be coming from Grand Chokmah. They could also hear a sound coming from up in the trees, moving towards the city. Tear threw a knife towards that sound, but it was out of her range before the knife left her hand. The Oracle Knights followed suit, dispersing as quickly as they came.

"Well, that was weird. They didn't even put up a fight. They could have had Ion easily if they did," Anise mentioned.

Before anyone could answer, a group of soldiers in the distinctive blue uniform of Malkuth arrived. They were accompanied by a man with short white hair in a more decorated uniform. He had to be an even higher rank than Jade was. The white haired man stepped forward towards Ion. "I trust you are Fon Master Ion and his group?"

"Yes, I am Ion. Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei."

"Brigadier General Frings, what should we do with them? It was Oracle Knights who attacked, you saw them!" one of the soldiers asked.

"Fon Master, you were asked to remain at the entrance, were you not? We were on our way for your group."

"We were. But we heard the sounds of an attack and couldn't just stand there and do nothing."

"And for that, I have to thank you. Though I do apologize for the fact that I must treat you as prisoners until you can speak with his Imperial Majesty. Please, come with me and I will take you to him right away."

"Thank you, General Frings. We understand your concern here," Ion told him. "I'm sure this misunderstanding will be sorted out once we can speak with Emperor Peony."

The general gave orders to all but five of his men to go and find those within the forest who had been injured and to cover their posts until a medical team and reinforcements arrived for them. The remaining ones were to serve as escort for their guests.

"Fon Master, were you or any of your companions injured?"

"No, we're fine. You came at the right time."

"Then let's make our way to the palace. His Imperial Majesty and Colonel Curtiss are awaiting your arrival."

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	25. Strange Meetings

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

Grand Chokmah was a beautiful city. The Imperial Capital of Malkuth was most definitely a splendid rival for the Kimlascan capital. The combination of running water along with the whites and blues that made up the city's buildings created a very peaceful and calming effect. 

Anise and Ion had been to the city before, so they didn't find the sight of so much water flowing within a city nearly so amazing as Tear did.

"Enjoying the sights, Locrian Sergeant Grants?" Their white haired escort asked her.

"Yes, General Frings. It's a beautiful city," Tear answered. "And please, call me Tear."

"I only wish there was time to give a grand tour, but we cannot keep his Imperial Majesty waiting."

Anise tugged on Ion's sleeve. "Is that who I think it is?" she whispered while pointing to a well-dressed blonde haired man walking in the same direction they were.

Ion looked over in the direction Anise was pointing and saw the man. Even with only his back showing, he was indeed familiar. "General, do you know who that man just ahead of us is?"

"Ah, that would be Count Gardios. He must have arrived back to town. He's not around very much since he also works as an Oracle Knight. Perhaps you already know him, Fon Master?"

"Yes, we do," Tear interjected. "We just didn't know he lived here."

"If you can call a week every now and then living here. He does have a home here in the city though."

The man turned around revealing the face that they had all come to know. "So, General, are you going to tell them my life story then?"

"I do apologize, Count Gardios. I was just indulging their curiosity since they appeared to know you."

"I would prefer they know nothing more. Good day to you, General," he stated before he walked away from them.

"I apologize. He can be a bit standoffish at times."

"Don't worry about it, General Frings," Ion assured him. "Let's not keep Emperor Peony waiting."

They continued on their way to the palace which stood in a nice centralized location within the city. There were plenty of nobles milling about the palace grounds, but not the noble God-General, whom they hadn't seen since he walked off. His being here couldn't be a good sign, especially with the attack that had occurred in Theor Forest. The attack remained quite mysterious in and of itself. That had been the first time the Oracle Knights showed any hesitation to injure or kill who they were attacking. And who had been up in the trees? Could it have been Count Gardios himself? Or even his wife?

They continued towards the palace gates, earning themselves curious looks from a few of the nobles milling about. It was probably more due to the large military escort, but they were otherwise left alone. The guards at the entrance let them in without question upon seeing General Frings with the group.

"Come this way, the audience chamber is right upstairs in the center." Frings informed them and motioned for the group to follow him. When they reached the large door to the audience chamber, the guards opened it for them and they walked inside.

They found themselves within a room of the same extreme size as the audience chamber had been in Baticul. It appeared even larger because of the huge window at the back, revealing a wall of flowing water behind it.

The room itself followed the same blue and white theme mostly, but there were some small hints of other colors, especially near where Jade stood next to a blonde haired man that had to be Emperor Peony, since he was the only one sitting. Two other men, both older than the Emperor were standing nearby, appearing to be from the military and of high rank, like General Frings.

Even the throne was rather interesting, since it didn't appear much like a traditional throne, it was more like a fancy chair, which along with the appearance of the one sitting within, gave a more casual air. Even stranger was the fact that once they approached, he actually stood up to greet the group like they were old friends. "Ah, so you are the ones who have been dragging my Jade all over the place and keeping him from home!" he declared in greeting.

Tear was quite confused by such a casual greeting from the ruler of Malkuth. "Y-Your Majesty?"

"And then he goes and gets himself hit with a fon slot seal! He can be a real pain, can't he?" Peony remarked with a smirk on his face.

"No, not at all, Your Majesty. It is good to see you again." Ion told him.

Jade looked at Peony, "Must you confuse our guests?"

Peony laughed. "Sorry. Anyway, Jade has already told me much of what's going on so far. Aslan, you may go. Thank you for bringing our guests safely here."

General Frings bowed and took his leave from the group. The five soldiers with him followed him out.

"Anyway, we should get down to business here. From what Jade has told me along with what has already been reported, it seems St. Binah may well become the next Akzeriuth. There have been reports that the land is already beginning to sag."

"Oh no! We must evacuate the residents!" Tear exclaimed.

"I'd love to. However, the council is reluctant. Actually, until you guys came, I thought Kimlasca had actually developed a fontech weapon capable of making the land fall."

"No, it couldn't be. It must be because Van made me open the Sephiroth. I'm sorry." Ion apologized.

"No need to apologize, Fon Master. From what Jade said, before Akzeriuth's destruction, there would have been no danger. Now things are different."

"We also can't ignore the proclamation from Kimlasca. Even if this isn't the work of Kimlasca, any forces we send may very well be attacked before they can even arrive!" one of the older men stated.

"What sort of proclamation?" Ion asked.

The other man spoke this time, he didn't need to read anything, he knew exactly what the proclamation said, "We hereby denounce Malkuth's destruction of Akzeriuth in order to bring about the death of the heir to the throne, Luke fon Fabre. In the name of Lorelei and Yulia, we shall initiate immediate sanctions."

"For all practical purposes, that is a declaration of war."

"But Luke didn't die! He's going to be fine! Why declare war over that? Malkuth didn't even have anything to do with what happened!" Anise declared.

"No, in fact, we believe it was Kimlasca that destroyed Akzeriuth in order to bring about a war." The man who read the proclamation explained.

"But it wasn't even Luke's fault!" Tear exclaimed. "It was my brother's doing!"

"That is the problem, Tear. We're the only ones who know what happened, and even we are only able to go on the word of a God-General since Luke isn't able to explain." Jade mentioned.

"But Jade tells me you guys can be trusted and that your source is valid. That and the Fon Master apologized before even being told enough details. That's enough for me. What do you think Sesemann? Is there any way we can get the citizens of St. Binah to safety?" Peony inquired.

"If I may make a suggestion, perhaps my unit along with Ion, Anise and Tear could go. A smaller group is less likely to attract notice. General Nordheim could then try to contain the Kimlascan forces northward while we evacuate the city." Jade suggested to those gathered.

"Are you trying to give a General orders?" One of the men declared. "Well, I suppose it could work. I will try to gain the council's approval."

"Thanks man, I owe you one." Peony told him. "I have to summon the council now, I'll let you handle the rest."

-----

Just as he had estimated, Kiran finished the paperwork assigned to him in only about an hour. He had been told to report to Largo as soon as he finished, to get in as much training as possible. So Kiran left the papers in a neat pile on the desk for Sync to find whenever he returned and left for the training rooms.

He looked in the room he was supposed to find Largo in, and saw the big man practicing with that giant scythe of his. It was amazing how strong he must be. That weapon had to weigh almost as much as Kiran did, if not more! He saw Kiran in the doorway and put his weapon down. He wiped sweat from his brow and motioned for Kiran to enter.

"So, Sync tells me you could use some extra training. You brought your sword, right?"

"Of course. What's the training for?"

"Sync just wanted you to spar with me as much as possible. He thinks you need more practice in a fight."

"That is probably very true. I'm not as good at combat as I could be."

"Not your fault, no one really bothered to teach you. You only had sporadic lessons from myself and Cantabile. It's no wonder you aren't disciplined enough. That will change. For the time you are assigned to Sync, he wants you to have regular training as long as you aren't out on a mission."

"Really?"

"Yes. He thinks it will be of service. Before it wasn't as needed, since you weren't supposed to live long, but now, you are going to be needed in many upcoming battles with our enemies. You must learn to defend yourself and be able to defeat those who would stand against us."

"Why do I have to fight them? Van just needs my powers, he can have them. I don't want to fight my original."

"You may have no choice. He's the most likely to oppose Van."

"Do you blame him? Van tried to have me kill him!"

"Kiran, forget about your original. You shouldn't be so attached to him. He won't live much longer and you know it."

"No, that's a lie! He's recovering just fine!"

"Hmm? How do you know this?"

"Um, I heard it from Anise and Tear when they saw me."

"Ah, so no recent news. Well, no matter. If he recovers, he will just be killed when he's found. You do realize that, right?"

"But why? If he doesn't oppose Van, then why kill him?"

"The Order will want him dead. He wasn't supposed to live through Akzeriuth. That he lives means the Score wasn't fulfilled. We have been asked to carry out the Score's prediction. Van accepted since it fits with his plans. He can't have the boy alive to oppose him."

"But what if he just stays in Baticul and doesn't oppose Van?"

"The Kimlascan King will hand him over if the Order requests it. They will have no choice."

"No!"

"Anyway, we need to get on with your training. This isn't important now. All you need to know now is how to follow orders. You don't need to know the reasons behind them. Leave that to the God-Generals."

"Yes, sir." Kiran responded.

"Good. Then let's start. Draw your weapon and try to hit me!"

Kiran drew his sword and ran towards Largo to try and hit the big man. He knew from previous sessions that the big man was slow, but also quite capable of fending off fast blows with that huge scythe of his. Only the slightest movement of the large weapon was enough to parry a blow, so he wasn't easy to hit.

Largo easily parried Kiran's first attempt. "Kiran, I know you can do better than this! I can predict what you are going to do, so I could dodge your blows in my sleep!"

"Sorry, sir!"

"Don't apologize. Try again! Hit me this time!" The larger God-General ordered.

Kiran tried another technique. If Largo could easily predict his moves, then what he had to do was move in a way that Largo wouldn't expect. He was small and fast, maybe not as fast as Sync, but definitely faster than someone the size of Largo. So he decided to run in a zig zag pattern as he ran towards Largo. He hoped this would throw the big man off and he wouldn't be able to guess what side Kiran's attack would come from.

It worked rather well, Largo barely deflected Kiran's blow in enough time. "Much better! You have a great advantage there with your smaller size against men like me. Take advantage of it, confuse your enemy! Let's try that again, but this time I will attempt to attack you while you attempt to attack me. Deflect my blow while trying to make one of your own."

"Yes, sir!"

"Ready, go!" Largo yelled. He started moving towards Kiran with his scythe ready to attack at any moment. Kiran ran around him. He was easily able to get around Largo to try and get an attack off the back. Largo caught on to this quickly, and turned around himself and had his scythe ready to hit Kiran. Kiran was able to effectively get out of the way.

"Good! Now keep this up. Keep dodging me until you hit me! This ends whenever the first person gets hit."

"Yes, sir!" Kiran declared as he continued to try to get towards Largo's side or back. He didn't really care where he hit; he just needed to somehow land a blow on the larger man. Even if it was a small injury, it was something. If this were a real battle, one hit from a man like Largo could very well mean his death. So he needed to take this training seriously if he wanted to make sure he didn't die. Too much depended on him surviving and eventually finding out what Van planned, and then, so he could defeat him.

He got on Largo's left side and tried to slash at Largo's knee. He remembered a lesson of Cantabile's where she had taught him to attack the legs if he couldn't hit a vital spot; especially if he was facing a larger target since Kiran's height put him at a disadvantage. Once a leg was incapacitated, the target would then be lowered, allowing him a better chance at hitting a vital point and swiftly taking care of an enemy. Even if he couldn't get a vital point, the legs meant the attacker wouldn't be coming after him any time soon.

Cantabile definitely taught him a few dirty tricks. She liked using them herself. She was always of the opinion that when it came to your life, it didn't matter if you fought honorably or not. Dead was dead. If you fought with honor, you would be defeated by those who used less honorable methods of combat. Best to be even with them if your life depended on it.

Largo was able to move his legs quickly enough to not be hit by the attempted blow to his knees. He sliced towards Kiran and he was narrowly able to dodge it. Wow, if he had been even a second later, he would have been on the ground nursing quite the wound, even in spite of the fact that Largo tended to pull his punches while training, so to speak. His weapon still had an edge and still could do injury in training.

Kiran moved around Largo to the other side, he pretended to start to hit, but stopped his motion. He then quickly hit at Largo's arm instead. This time he was successful, scoring a blow with the flat of his blade to the lower part of Largo's arm.

"Good job Kiran! Let's take a short rest. You must be winded after all that running."

"Yes, Sir."

"I see you learned well from Cantabile. She loves techniques that take advantage of her speed. She's even faster than Nepenthes if she's working at it, though he usually can last longer at higher bursts of speed."

"Yeah, I know. They are dangerous together."

"That's right, you fought them before returning here."

"I would have given up, but the others insisted."

"You did well to come willingly. The Commandant won't accept your unwillingness to follow orders. It's best you just follow orders and pretend you never met them. If they go against you, you will be forced to kill them. It's easier to kill a nameless, faceless enemy than one you know."

"Yes, it is difficult. It was hard to attack Cantabile and Nepenthes, especially Cantabile. You and her were the only ones who treated me like anyone else. The rest treated me like an object. Is that what a replica means to them?"

"They didn't want to get close to you because you were supposed to die. Plus, we all have our own problems. Most of us have very painful pasts and don't want to have to go through that kind of pain ever again."

"Why did you join the Oracle Knights, sir?"

"Because Van's ideals agreed with mine. He sought me out because he thought my skills and experience in combat would be of use and needed someone with that who agreed with his ideals."

"What are Van's ideals exactly? I never got the chance to find out what they were. Why did he feel a need to destroy Akzeriuth?"

"Kiran, if you need to know that, he will tell you. It's not my place to tell you the Commandant's ideals and plans."

"But, sir. If I understood them, maybe that would make me feel better. If the end justifies the means, it's not so bad to have to kill many to accomplish something much greater."

"Then I will put it in simple terms that won't reveal anything I can't. Van wishes to make this world a better one. He will go to any length to make sure this happens. But you are no longer a God-General. All you need to do is follow orders from Sync. Don't question his orders and you will do fine. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Kiran answered. Well, at least that was something. Van definitely had some reason behind his plan. Whatever it was, he felt he was making the world a better place. What could he be planning that would make the world a better place at the cost of so many lives? How could it be better to have land disappear forever, and thousands of lives and many resources the world needed gone for good.

Were any ideals worth that price? Probably not. What good did a better world do to those who died? None at all. He could have been among those many victims. That was a thought he didn't like to have. He was very glad Luke had chosen the way he did, though it had almost cost him his life.

"All right, that's enough of a rest. Now, since you have succeeded with the first part, I'm going to teach you a new arte Sync gave me authorization to teach you since your knowledge of artes is also lacking."

Kiran tried to contain his excitement. His knowledge as far as strike and fonic artes went was seriously lacking. Even a base arte would be of benefit. He kept silent, waiting for Largo to patiently explain.

"Good, you aren't asking me your usual questions. You're learning already. This arte is a bit more advanced than the few you already know. But Sync thinks you're ready for it. It will be quite advantageous in future battles, because even with your smaller size, you will be able to knock down an enemy."

"Really? That would be helpful." Kiran remarked.

"I thought so. It's a bit tricky, however. Considering your talents, you may have less of a problem than I did in learning it. The arte involves focusing energy into the shape of a beast that will hit and knock down your enemy for you. Done right, it can greatly hurt your enemy. They may not even stand back up before you can have a chance to deliver a fatal blow. It has a slight disadvantage. The enemy is knocked backwards by the force of the energy. That shouldn't be an issue with your speed."

"I hope not, sir. I don't want to disappoint."

"I hope you won't. Now, let me demonstrate it first. I will do so three times in total so you can get a good idea of what I do. Watch closely. After the third time, you will try."

"Yes sir."

He watched as Largo demonstrated the arte. He remembered seeing Largo use it in the past, but he had never gotten a good look at how it was performed. It was evident that Largo was trying to slow his actions so Kiran could pick up the technique, but it didn't hinder the arte's performance. It was indeed impressive.

"Now you try it." Largo requested.

Kiran tried to duplicate the larger man's actions, but found himself miserably failing on his first try. Largo chuckled at his sense of disappointment and said most people didn't catch on to such difficult artes the first time. He patiently advised Kiran where he went wrong and asked him to try again.

Their practice went on for hours until Kiran finally mastered the arte. It was nearly the end of the day when he finally did so. He was a bit disappointed that it took so long, but Largo just laughed and said most of his students had to try for days, if not longer to master it, if they even mastered it at all. Kiran felt better hearing this news. "So how did he do?" Sync's voice said from the doorway.

"He made very good progress. He learned the arte you asked me to teach him already and is showing good skill and speed in combat." Largo informed him.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it," Sync replied. "Kiran, we've received orders to go to St. Binah. Make sure you are ready to leave at first light tomorrow. You are dismissed. Largo and I have more to discuss."

"Yes, sir!" Kiran said before he left the room.

So the time was finally here, he was to go on an actual mission for the first time with Sync. What would happen to him when he arrived at St. Binah?

-----

As she had promised, Natalia had brought Luke some books on fonic artes and the Order of Lorelei today. He had doubted he would find anything about how to actually remove a Curse slot, but he was amazed that there wasn't even a mention of them. Not even a warning about how awful they could be.

What was he supposed to do to help Kiran? Even if Kiran decided to stay among the Oracle Knights, he had a right to be able to decide for himself what to do. As it was, he was merely a puppet for Sync and in extension, Van. If he didn't dance the way Sync wanted him to, Sync could very easily pull the strings to make sure he did.

He put the books back on the table. He really couldn't stand this whole staying in bed thing. All he wanted to do was at least try to get out of bed. If he faltered, then he could accept that he should wait. But he had to try. If he never tried, he would be tied to this bed forever, and that was the last thing he wanted.

He knew Natalia wouldn't be back any time soon, so who was to know if he truly did stay in bed or not? He did feel bad for breaking the promise he made, but it was a promise made in duress. Natalia wouldn't let it go until he said he would do it. He really hated when she got like that.

At the very least, he wanted to get some fresh clothes on; maybe he could try that for now. If he could at least dress himself, that was progress. He moved himself to a sitting position at the edge of the bed first. Admittedly, sitting up was already becoming easier for him; he barely had to struggle to get his legs to move the way he wanted them to this time.

He made sure to get himself as close to the table as possible. That way if his balance was a bit off, he had something to help steady himself with. He slowly raised himself up to a standing position, making sure to keep one hand near the table, but not quite holding it yet. He wanted to stand on his own if he could.

He felt slightly dizzy once he got himself to a standing position, but the feeling passed quickly. Now he just needed to take the few steps that would take him to the closet. He just needed to take one step, and then he could take another step, then another. He wouldn't get anywhere if he didn't take that first step.

After the first step, Luke paused a moment, expecting to feel like he did when he first stood up. It wasn't nearly as bad as it had been for him to first stand, however, and he felt heartened by this fact. He could walk just fine; Natalia was just worrying too much. His next step was even easier and soon he found his way to the closet.

He was amazed at how much just being able to do one simple thing for himself made him feel so much better already. He did appreciate Natalia's wonderful care for him, but he didn't want to depend on her forever. He hated depending on others when he should be able to do something himself. It wasn't until all this happened that he understood just how wonderful it was to be able to simply get out of bed and walk outside of a room. Such a simple thing made him so happy.

He grabbed a set of simple but comfortable clothes and walked back towards the bed. Even the simple act of changing into another set of clothes took him a bit longer than usual, but he felt extremely satisfied once he was done. Now he no longer needed to have any others to assist with him with that daily task.

He didn't even feel in the least bit tired after that small bit of exercise. If anything, he felt stronger than he did before, because he had a new confidence in himself. He knew he would recover and soon. He just hoped it would be soon enough to be able to do something to help.

_Luke, what are you doing out of bed?_ Kiran's familiar mental voice interrupted his thoughts.

_I was just seeing if I could. I have to start somewhere._

_And?_

_I'm fine. Sheesh, you're almost as bad as Natalia._

_Damn, at this rate, you may very well be able to follow me._

_Follow you?_

_Yeah. I got my next mission today. We're going to St. Binah._

_Can you say what's going to happen? Or even when you leave?_

_I wasn't told. But if you can make it there, you could see me. You had better be prepared to remove the Curse Slot or to kill Sync if you decide to come. But we leave tomorrow._

_And if I can't?_

_Stay away from there. Sync will make me do something I don't want if you're here._

_Don't worry about me. I won't come if I can't handle it._

_Luke, just let it be. Worry about getting better, not about me. There will be another chance._

_Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, ok?_

_Anyway, I just wanted to check up on how you were doing and let you know that I'm fine here. I've got preparations to make for the mission._

_I wish you well. Even though I don't know what you're doing, I hope Sync doesn't make you do something you'll regret._

_I'll be fine._

Kiran suddenly cut off the connection, leaving Luke alone with thoughts that he'd prefer not to have. He felt afraid that he and Kiran were growing even further apart. And even though Kiran told him not to go, it seemed more like he wanted Luke there. Why else would he have mentioned it?

He thought it over; he seemed to be able to walk fine. Most of the trip would be via a ship to Kaitzur. Once he arrived, he should be able to take a coach to St. Binah. No matter what the situation was, he shouldn't have too much issue with getting to the city itself, since he would be alone.

The hardest part would be getting out of Baticul without Natalia finding out before he was gone. She would do her utmost to stop him. Even if he did get away from Baticul without her knowledge, she was going to be very upset with him.

He would just have to deal with that when the time came.

-----

Tear and the others were finishing making preparations to depart for St. Binah. Their preparations were nearly complete, and they just were waiting on Jade's unit to arrive. Since Jade knew it would take some time for the soldiers to arrive, he gave each of them an hour to explore the city and make any personal preparations. Anise wandered off with Ion right away, leaving Tear to her own devices while Jade patiently awaited his unit's arrival.

Tear asked one of the residents for directions to the marketplace. She thought it would be a good idea to update her equipment. Who knew what was to come in the near future? She always had found that being prepared was the best way to deal with anything and she admitted that she could use a few changes of clothing. The few sets she had of her standard uniform had definitely seen better days. It would be some time before she could obtain a new uniform, but at least she could have some clothes that were not nearly to the point of falling apart.

She saw a clothing store first and walked inside, immediately heading towards the women's section and started looking at clothing that was well suited for traveling. She found her eyes widening when she saw the prices on much of what she liked. There really was nothing at all that she could afford to purchase.

She was about to leave and try to find another store when she saw a familiar violet haired woman with a child that she had not seen before. The child had hair much like hers, but even shorter. He couldn't be very old by the size of him, not that Tear knew much about children so young.

It was actually interesting to see her former teacher like this. She was dressed in regular clothing, much like any other noble would wear, as was her little boy. She was actually smiling at him while she held up clothes to see if they would be the right size. Tear couldn't recall any time where she had ever seen Cantabile smile in the way she smiled at her son. The boy was adorable too. He looked like a younger version of her husband, but instead with hair a slightly lighter shade than his mother's own hair.

Having picked out some new clothes for the boy, she picked him up and started to walk towards the counter to pay for her purchases. The boy started pulling on her hair playfully and giggling happily. "Stop that, Kalimeris!" she scolded.

Tear tried to move out of the way. She had no idea how Cantabile would react to her seeing the boy. She wasn't nearly fast enough at getting out of the way, "Tear? What brings you to Grand Chokmah?" she asked.

"Oh, I just happened to be passing through. Is that your son? He's so cute!"

"Yes, he's my son. He's a year old."

"He looks to be a wonderful boy. Don't you hate being away from him so much?"

"Very much so. But I can't leave the Oracle Knights either. My resignation requests have been denied each time I ask."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Tear, just because the Commandant is your brother. There is just no one to replace me and my husband at this time."

"Well, I'll leave you to your son. It was nice to meet him, I'm sure he will be a fine man when he grows up."

Cantabile smiled. "He will, just like his father. Tear, whatever you decide make sure you don't regret it later. If you oppose your brother, he will no longer hesitate to use force against you. Be sure of what you want to do, or you won't be able to defeat him. On that note, please leave Kiran to us, he made the right decision. He won't be hurt."

"I'm sure of what I want to do and I will make no promises about Kiran. If he wants to leave, I will help him if I can."

"Then I have nothing more to say. You have chosen your path," Cantabile told her. "Kalimeris, say 'bye bye' to the nice lady."

"Bye!" the child said while waving to Tear.

Tear smiled. "Bye Kalimeris."

Cantabile walked over to the counter with her son and paid for her purchases. Then she left the store. What did she mean Van would no longer hesitate to use force? He already had done so when Cantabile and her husband had come for Kiran. Unless...would they have bluffed by saying they would kill her to gain Kiran's cooperation?

One thing she did know, the knowledge that Cantabile had a young son would make it all that much harder to fight her in the future. How could she do that knowing that she could end up depriving that adorable little boy his mother?

-----

Luke finished composing a short letter to Natalia explaining why he had to leave. He hated the idea of having to leave like this, but he knew that if he told Natalia his plans, she would stop them somehow. There wasn't going to be a better chance for him to accomplish what was needed, he had to go.

He wished he could see his daughter once before he left, but that wouldn't be possible. It would alert Natalia to the fact that he had already broken his promise about remaining in bed, and she was suspicious enough about it.

He thought it over, and it was actually simple enough, so long as he could accomplish the first part. The hardest part would be to leave the castle itself without Natalia finding out. The best way for him to accomplish that would be to exit via the window. There was a tree nearby that Natalia had used when she was younger to sneak out to see Luke. How interesting that he would now be using for the purpose of leaving without her knowledge.

As long as he made it out of the castle safely, the rest would be easy. He just had to make his way to port and catch a ferry to Kaitzur. Once he was on the ferry, he was in the clear, except for having to deal with Natalia's anger when he returned.

Natalia had already left the room for the day. She might return at some point later, but by then it would be too late. Luke got up and finished dressing along with gathering what he would need for the journey to St. Binah. He definitely made sure to include his weapon, since the chances of running into monsters along the way was very good. He just hoped he was up to the challenge of facing monsters already. He had noticed that his movement was slowed to a major degree and he hoped it wouldn't affect his ability to defend himself.

Having finished dressing, Luke walked over to the window. Now came the hardest part, taking the first step outside. He had to admit, the idea of climbing this tree scared him the most of anything that came. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and climbed through the window into the tree's branches. Once within the tree itself, he felt much better. It was a very old and sturdy tree with plenty of branches that could support his weight. He just had to move carefully to not fall down.

Slowly but surely, he made it to the trunk of the tree and from there he was easily able to climb down. He made it past the first step without hurting himself. Now came the easier part, getting to the port.

What he didn't realize was that as he had disappeared from view of the window, Natalia had entered the room and caught him leaving. She then saw his note and after reading it, she quickly found a guard and dispatched him to the port to delay the ferry from leaving until she arrived and gave the okay for the ferry to leave.

She was indeed amazed that Luke was able to make it down the tree in his condition. He must have regained his strength quickly. Whatever his plans, it was going to be difficult to talk him out of them. She quickly came to a decision. If she couldn't talk him out of leaving, then she would go with him. At the very least, she would see that he remained safe if he had to do this. She quickly gathered up what she would need for a journey in case she was to accompany him and went to find Susanne to explain the situation to her.

Once everything was explained to Susanne and Evelina's care was ensured if she didn't return, she left for the port for Luke, making sure to bring Mieu along with her.

-----

Luke had just arrived at the port and was about to purchase a ticket for the ferry when the attendant informed him that the ferry was going to be delayed for at least an hour for some emergency maintenance. Damn it! He couldn't afford a delay, the longer he spent here; the more likely it was that Natalia could stop him from leaving.

He had no choice but to wait, however. Wait and hope that Natalia hadn't returned to check up on him already. He found a place nearby to sit and wait on it to finish up whatever maintenance was being done. The strange thing was; it didn't look like repairs were being made, at least not on the outside.

A few of those waiting greeted Luke and expressed their happiness to see him doing so much better. The rest who were to take the ferry to Kaitzur were grumbling over the fact that it had been delayed. He was glad he wasn't the only one upset over it. After waiting for a time, he saw Natalia arrive to the port. He found how she was dressed rather strange, but he knew one thing, he couldn't be seen here. He ducked behind the nearest object he could find as quickly as he could.

Natalia had seen her wayward husband the moment she entered the port, and even saw him try to hide himself from view. She had to smile. He seemed perfectly normal actually, though she had to admit, she was surprised it took as long as it did for him to notice her. She walked over to where she had seen him last.

"You can come out, Luke. I saw you leave the castle."

Damn, that explained a lot. The delay likely was her doing then. He came out into her sight, "You can't talk me out of leaving, Natalia. I don't want to leave you or Evelina, but this is important."

"Luke, please, explain to me why this is so important that you would risk you health and even your life?"

"Something is going to happen in St. Binah. Kiran is going to be there, along with the God-General Sync. I could tell Kiran wants me to stop whatever it is, even though he tried to talk me out of it."

"Do you know what? Remember, the last time I let you leave, you almost didn't come back. I can't bear to go through that again."

"I know. Please, I don't know exactly what is going to happen, but I have a very bad feeling about it. Kiran wouldn't have told me where he was going otherwise."

"Then there is nothing I can say to convince you to stay home until you fully recover?"

"Nothing. Can't you see that I can do this? You said you saw me leave the castle. You know it's not easy to make it out that window, remember?"

She did remember, quite well. If it hadn't been for Luke, she could have gotten seriously injured, if not died doing it herself when she was younger. "Yes, I remember. You caught me that time when I fell."

"Then can you honestly say I can't make this trip?"

"I still don't think you are ready. Aren't there monsters that could attack you on the way? We don't know if you could handle that."

"I traveled that road, the monsters aren't that strong, Natalia. I can do it."

"If you must go, then let me go with you. You promised me when you left for Akzeriuth that you would let me accompany you the next time. If I can't talk you out of this, then the least I can do is keep you safe. Please, for me, and for your daughter."

"What about Evelina?"

"I made sure she would be cared for in the event that I could not talk you out of this and was forced to accompany you. I'm not going to let you go by yourself, it's too dangerous."

"And Uncle?"

"Aunt Susanne will explain everything to Father. He will be upset, but I think she will be able to make him understand."

"As always, you do such a wonderful job of preparing things in such a timely manner. I gather the delay was your doing?"

"Yes. I'm sorry, but I had to have the chance to speak with you. Once you left, you would have been beyond my grasp. Just don't think you are completely off the hook because I'm coming along."

"I won't. Thank you, Natalia. Your help will be most appreciated."

"I'll speak with the attendant so we can get going and purchase myself a ticket. By the way, you almost forgot Mieu."

Mieu took that chance to peek out from where he had been hiding. "Master! You're looking so much better!"

"Mieu, sorry for leaving you. I'm glad Natalia brought you along."

"I hope I can be useful to both of you."

Natalia placed the young cheagle on Luke's shoulder. "Let's go speak with the attendant."

Luke felt Natalia's hand grasp his and she pulled him along towards the person Luke had purchased his ticket from earlier. "Princess, have you finished your business here then? My customers are getting upset over this delay."

"Yes. I will be needing a ticket as well, since I am to accompany my husband on his trip." She handed the attendant some money. "And here's some extra for the inconvenience of having to delay the ferry."

She was handed a ticket, "Thank you, Princess. I'm glad to be of service to you and your husband. Please have a good trip."

Both of them boarded the ferry to make the trip to Kaitzur. Luke had to admit, he was relieved that Natalia decided to accompany him. He felt a lot less worried about what was to come with her at his side.

Unfortunately, even her presence could not banish all his worries. He knew something bad was going to happen. He just wished he knew what it was.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	26. Untold Memories

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

Luke and Natalia arrived to St. Binah at the same time as a small group of Malkuth soldiers arrived. They tried to get out of sight, but unfortunately there was nowhere they could hide.

"Luke? Is that really you?" A familiar female voice called from the center of the group. Luke suddenly noticed the presence of Tear, Jade, Anise and Ion among the soldiers. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he saw the familiar faces of Tear, Jade, Anise and Ion among the soldiers. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes. It's really me, Tear."

"And me too!" Mieu interjected.

"Luke, it's so good to see you again!" Ion enthusiastically said. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good actually," Luke answered.

"He does look pretty good for someone who almost died not that long ago," Jade mentioned.

"So what brings you here, Luke?" Ion asked.

"Kiran and Sync will be arriving here," Luke answered.

"They will? How do you know?" Tear asked. "We couldn't find out anything from him!"

"I know, I saw the whole thing. Sync's his superior now, so he couldn't say anything."

"Hmm, that's an interesting connection you two have. I don't know of any other replica and original sharing such an ability."

"Jade, speaking of that, how do you know so much about replicas?"

"Why don't we talk about this later? We have a city to evacuate."

"Evacuate? Whatever for?" Natalia asked.

"This city may very well fall just like Akzeriuth did," Ion explained.

"No! How could that be?" Luke exclaimed.

"We'll talk about this all later. Right now, we need to get the residents to a safer place," Jade suggested.

The soldiers and the group entered the city and made their way to the Malkuth Military Headquarters at the center of the city to give the message from Peony to the McGoverns so they could get the word out. They walked inside and saw both the McGoverns deep in conversation.  
"I told you, Father, with Kaitzur overrun by Kimlascan forces; we cannot afford to have troops leave the city." The younger of the two shouted.

"But if we don't evacuate the civilians, St. Binah will become the next Akzeriuth!" the older man stated.

"We cannot make a move without an order from His Imperial Majesty." The younger of the two responded to this.

"That should be simple enough to provide, General." Jade interjected.

"Colonel Curtiss?! You're alive!" the younger McGovern declared.

"Jade, what did his Majesty say?" the older McGovern questioned.

"We're to evacuate the civilians to the Engeve area." Jade informed him.

"But that means leaving the city unguarded." Glenn mentioned.

"The land has already begun to fall, sir. Would you have them all die?" Tear stated. "Do you want this to be like Akzeriuth? Or even Hod?"

"My troops will take over escorting the civilians partway along the route. Once the civilians are out, please have your forces go west to join General Nordheim's forces on the East Rugnica Plains.

"Understood. So we're abandoning St. Binah." The younger McGovern concluded.

"Right. I'll go inform the residents." The older of the two men stated.

Both of the McGoverns left to get the evacuation started. There was a lot of work to do to evacuate the entire city, and they had to be careful not to cause a panic in the process.

"Let's go help." Ion suggested.

"Yes." Luke agreed.

"Luke, I know you want to help, but you really shouldn't overexert yourself." Natalia scolded.

"Natalia, let me figure out what my limits are. Stop being so overprotective of me!" Luke demanded.

"Luke…" Natalia started to say, but Luke had already stormed off to go help some citizens

"Let me guess…he probably shouldn't even be out of bed, much less in another city helping its citizens to evacuate?" Jade asked Natalia.

"Yes. He's so stubborn!" Natalia declared.

"He feels guilty about what happened in Akzeriuth most likely." Ion suggested. "He needs time to come to terms with that. Has he talked about it with you?"

"No, not at all." Natalia mentioned. "He didn't really mention it, and I didn't want to ask him."

"Natalia, you might want to ask him about it." Tear suggested. "It has to be bothering him, and you might be the only one he would talk to about it, except perhaps Kiran."

"That's part of the problem. I don't have any idea of what he and Kiran discussed while he was still unconscious. And he would have stayed in Baticul if it wasn't for Kiran."

"You and Luke will have to handle that issue." Ion mentioned. "It had to be a shock to him to discover that he has a replica of himself. Getting to know Kiran better could be his way of coping with it."

"Especially under the circumstances." Tear mentioned. "He really couldn't talk to anyone else once he knew. Anyway, we should go help Luke. He does have the right idea."

-----

The preparations for evacuation were well on their way. A group was already nearly ready to depart with their escort to Engeve.

Luke was getting more worried as time passed and Kiran still didn't arrive with Sync. He knew they were coming. It was only a matter of time before they arrived. He didn't know what their objective was, that worried him more than anything. No matter what it was; it would get in the way of the evacuation.

Then chaos erupted over the area. People were running away from the gate. What could have happened? He looked around for a cause that would explain it, but saw nothing right off.

"Sir! Watch out!" A child running by screamed at Luke.

Luke turned around just in time to see a box coming off the cart that he had been helping load. He tried to get out of the way, but reacted too slow and the box crashed into him, causing him to lose his balance.

He was lucky, it wasn't an extremely heavy box, but it still stung quite a bit. He rubbed his right arm which had taken most of the force of the blow. It wasn't anything too bad. The bone felt all right, it just hurt. The pain should pass soon enough.

Then he heard an odd but familiar sound. It was a mechanical whirring sound that he remembered hearing the last time right before the God-General Dist had arrived. Strange, Kiran didn't mention the eccentric God-General, he just said him and Sync would be here. Two God-Generals and Kiran would _not_ be a good thing at all.

It was evident that their plans definitely involved causing a panic and preventing residents from escaping, but what else? There had to be more to it then that. If that was the only objective, they wouldn't need two God-Generals, and a former one.

"Hah hah hah hah hah!" A voice boomed from above. "So nice to see you again Jade!"

Dist appeared from above the gate sitting as usual on his overstuffed flying chair. By this time, all the residents had found some place of safety, even if it was behind the carts that had been packed up. Luke stood up and walked closer to the gate itself where the others already were.

"Dist, this isn't the time for this nonsense!" Jade shouted.

"You call seeing an old friend 'nonsense'? I'm hurt, Jade," Dist commented.

"Dist, what happened to your hands?" Anise commented. Once she said that, Luke noticed that his hands looked strange. He recalled that all the God-Generals wore gloves of some sort, and Dist wasn't. His hands were also wrapped in bandages, only leaving the fingers free. Even his fingers looked reddened from something happening.

"Dist must have had set something on fire yet again and burned his hands." Jade suggested.

"I did not!" the eccentric God-General whined.

"What is your business here, Dist?" Luke demanded. "Are you even supposed to be here?"

"One as elegant as myself needs not follow orders!" Dist whined.

"Yes he does. If he doesn't wish to be declared a traitor and punished as one, that is," A new male voice declared from the gate. Again, they recognized the voice, it was Sync. "If you want to escape punishment, you had best return to Daath before the Commandant finds out you left, if he hasn't already."

"Damn you Sync! You always ruin everything!" Dist whined. "This is going in my revenge journal!"

Dist flew off after shouting that. Evidently Sync's threat meant something to Dist. It was a relief to have one less God-General, however. Though Sync was definitely the worse threat of these two.

"Sync, what are you doing here?" Anise demanded to know.

Sync stepped out from under the gate. Once he came more into the light, Luke could see who was behind him. It was Kiran, just as he had been told. "I'm here to retrieve the Fon Master," He explained. "But I also have orders pertaining to the 'light of the sacred flame'."  
"No!" Kiran declared running in between Sync and the others. "Don't hurt him!"

"Kiran, you know the orders pertaining to him. His continued survival could hinder our plans. He must be destroyed as the Score foretold. Unless he will willingly join us."

"Never!" Luke shouted. "Van showed his true colors in Akzeriuth! I wouldn't work with him even if my life depended on it!"

"A shame, because your life does depend on it," Sync stated.

Kiran opened the connection between him and Luke, he couldn't let Sync hear what he needed to say to Luke. _Luke, get out of here now! Our orders are to kill you if we find you!_

_Why didn't you tell me this before? _

_I only found out on the way here! _

"Kiran, you know the orders pertaining to your original," Sync reminded the former God-General. "Prove that you aren't a traitor and carry them out."

"Never! I would rather die a traitor than follow that order!" Kiran declared. _Luke, please, get away from me! I'm not going to have control of my actions much longer. Not unless you can remove this Curse Slot before that happens! _

"Sorry, Kiran. I can't grant that wish of yours. You will live until Van's plans are fulfilled, and no longer if you continue with this insubordination," Sync told him. Before Kiran could respond, a red glyph appeared on his arm. "You were willing enough to follow orders once. You will continue to do so!"

Kiran suddenly drew his sword and started running towards Luke about to attack. "No!" Natalia wailed. "Luke! Get out of the way!"

Luke drew his sword in barely enough time to parry the blow Kiran tried to make. "Everyone, stay out of this! I won't have Kiran getting hurt because Sync is forcing him to do this."

Luke suddenly had an image come into his mind, strange, nothing like this happened the last time Kiran was affected by the Curse Slot. He saw a younger version of Kiran speaking with a younger Cantabile.

"_Cantabile, what does Van mean when he says I'm 'just a tool.'?" The young Kiran asked the female God-General. He asked her first, since she was one of the few who would actually answer his questions and treat him decently. He wouldn't even have a name other than "Replica" if it wasn't for her. _

_ Cantabile groaned. "Kiran, I don't know why he would say that. Why don't you ask Legretta? She's Van's assistant, she should know." _

_ "Okay! I'll do that!" the young Kiran cheerily said. _

A tool? Was that how Van had referred to Kiran? He continued to parry Kiran's attempts at hitting him with the sword. One of the attempts to parry wasn't completely successful. Luke could see blood welling at the site of the slash Kiran made on his left arm.

The others were obeying Luke's request to not get between him and Kiran. Instead they were attacking Sync. Each had their weapons ready, even Ion did, though he wouldn't be fighting. Natalia shot an arrow in Sync's direction, but the agile God-General found it easy to dodge her shot.

Luke could see another snippet of Kiran's memory within his mind. Was this coming across their connection? Was Kiran doing this willingly, or was it Sync's doing?

_Having asked Legretta about what Van said and getting no answer that made sense, he tried to ask _ _Largo__. The big man really did have a kind heart, especially towards the younger of the God-Generals, Arietta, Sync and Kiran. He was like a father to each of them. _

_ He found _ _Largo__ finishing up the training of some of the Oracle Knights in his division. Largo helped train many of the male Oracle Knights, especially the ones who were rising quickly among the ranks. His specialty was in training the smaller Knights in how to deal with an enemy much larger than them. Upon seeing Kiran enter, he dismissed the other students since the training was over. _

_ "Kiran, I didn't realize you were schedule for training today...or did you have a question about something we covered?" The big man asked the young Kiran. _

_ "I had a question about something Van said. But Legretta and Cantabile didn't answer it. Can you?" The boy looked expectantly at the large man. _

_ "I can try. But if Legretta and Cantabile didn't know, I doubt I know either." _

_ "Why does Van say I'm 'just a tool'?" _

_Largo__ groaned in response just like Cantabile had. This made Kiran wonder if he and Cantabile really did know the answer, but it was an answer they didn't want to tell. "I'm sorry, Kiran. I can't answer that question." _

_"You know the answer! I know you do! You just don't want to tell me!" Kiran stubbornly shouted. _

_"N-no, it's just…" _ _Largo__ started to say. _

_"I can answer that one." Another voice said. Kiran turned around and saw one of the more recent additions to the God-Generals, Sync the Tempest. _

_"You know, Sync?" _

_"Yeah, and I have no problems saying it, unlike the others. You're a tool because you're a replica. Replicas are made to replace their originals and then thrown away when no longer of use," Sync bluntly told his comrade. _

_"Thrown away?" _

_"Yeah. In your case, you get to take your original's place and die for him. That's when you will be thrown away like a piece of garbage. But then, that's all a replica really can be." _

_"But why can't I replace my original after he dies instead?" _

_"Because you're just a tool." _

_"Sync, stop that! You're going to upset him." Largo shouted. _

_"No!!! That can't be true!!" Kiran wailed as he ran out of the room. _

"Kiran, stop this now! You don't want to hurt me, at least not anymore," Luke shouted while he continued to parry Kiran's slashes.

Luke was having a hard time keeping up with his replica. Kiran's strikes weren't hard to dodge; there wasn't even any thought behind them. The problem was that Luke wasn't able to move nearly fast enough. His injuries were still slowing his reactions and movements.

It was amazing that Sync was able to fend off his friends and still control Kiran. The masked God-General was definitely amazing in battle. No matter how many fonic artes Jade sent his way, or arrows Natalia sent at him, or anything else they tried to use against Sync; he had yet to receive one hit from them. He wasn't trying to attack them, however. He was merely defending himself.

They didn't have much more time remaining. The longer this battle went on, the longer it would take before the citizens could be evacuated. Every minute was closer to the one where the city would indeed fall. They had to end this, and soon. The problem was, the only way it seemed to end this was to incapacitate Kiran or Sync somehow.

_"I hate being a replica! Why do I have to die and my original gets to live?!" Kiran shouted at no one in particular. He was completely alone. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. "I don't want to die! Why can't I live instead of my original?" _

_He heard a knock on the door. "Go away!" He shouted at whoever was trying to invade. "I want to be left alone!" _

_He had left the door unlocked, so his visitor had no problem getting in. "I said I want to be alone." _

_"No, you shouldn't be alone, Kiran." Cantabile's voice gently told him. "_ _Largo__ told me what Sync said to you." _

_"Yeah, he said the truth. He doesn't lie. You could have told me!" Kiran cried _

_"Yes, I could have. But look at you now. Was it better for you to know your purpose?" _

_"But why me? Why do I have to be the one to die? I hate my original! I don't even know who he is, but I hate him! What makes him so much better than me?!" _

How could Van do that? How could he make a replica with the intention of throwing it away? No wonder Kiran wants to kill him! All he ever wanted was to live, and who could blame him? No one really wants to die.

Luke could feel tears welling in his eyes. Had everything been an act and Kiran hated him from the start? But then if Kiran had wanted him dead so much, why go through the trouble of saving him in Akzeriuth?

"Luke, watch out!" Tear warned him.

Luke had been so absorbed in his own and Kiran's thoughts that he didn't see Kiran's sword coming straight for him, a blow that would kill him, if he didn't get out of the way quick enough.

_"All you need to do is picture me doing what you want me to do."_

That's it! He could try controlling Kiran. If only he would drop the sword. He didn't even realize that his thoughts had projected to Kiran for the first time. The moment he thought of disarming the former God-General, he saw his attacker suddenly drop his sword right as he tried to dodge the attack.

_"Is it any more fair that your original should die and you should live?" Cantabile pointed out. "You could easily develop your abilities and your loyalty to the Commandant. If your skills would be more useful to him, then you would be the one he would keep. But you would still be a tool to him, just the more useful tool, rather than the discarded tool. Is that what you want?" _

_"I just want to live! I don't want to be thrown away like a piece of garbage!" the younger Kiran exclaimed. "I want to be the useful one, not the piece of garbage!" _

No! These can't be Kiran's thoughts! He never would think this way! Was Sync even capable of making him think these horrible things?

Luke saw Kiran pick his sword up. Was this never going to end unless one of them killed the other? Wasn't he beginning to tire even in the least bit? Luke sure felt like he was getting very tired.

"Stop this, please Kiran!" Luke exclaimed fearfully.

"It's worthless to try and reason with him," Sync mentioned from his vantage point above where they others were still trying to hit him. "He's completely under my control. If you can't stand to hurt him, then you had better give up now and die."

Natalia readied her bow, "Never! We won't let you make Kiran kill Luke!" she shot an arrow, "Piercing Line!" Her arrow, infused with fonons from her arte, hit its mark as everything else had failed. It only hit Sync in the arm, but it was a start.

Luke then felt himself unable to move any more. His limbs wouldn't respond at all, no matter what he tried to do. Damn, Kiran must be trying to control him again! He had to move, if he didn't, Kiran would seriously injure, if not kill him.

He had no other choice, he had to either prevent Kiran from stopping his movement, or he had to stop Kiran's own movements. He hated the thought, he didn't like that he did it earlier to disarm Kiran, but this time he had no choice.

He concentrated on the single thought of Kiran stopping right where he stood. That was it! If he wasn't moving, he couldn't attack. Kiran suddenly stopped, and Luke let out a sigh of relief, maybe now he wouldn't have to hurt him.

What Luke hadn't planned on was that Kiran would fall over the moment he stopped. His momentum must have been too much. He wasn't moving, but he did fall forward. What was Luke to do now? If he let Kiran move, he could attack again. But if Kiran didn't move, he could get hurt from falling over.

He decided on the lesser of the two. It was better to let Kiran fall, then to do something he would regret later. Falling, he would recover from that. He wouldn't recover if he hurt Luke, at least not emotionally. Or at least… Luke hoped that was the case.

The moment Kiran hit the ground, for the first time since this started, he appeared more relaxed. Luke could no longer feel his replica's presence in his mind; he must have fallen unconscious.

Sync came down from above where he had been dodging all of the other's attempts at him. He picked up Kiran's prone form and slung his unconscious load over his good shoulder.

"Don't think this is over. As long as he bears the Curse Slot, he will be your greatest enemy," Sync informed Luke. He was about to leave but at the last moment he looked back at Jade, "Necromancer, I have something for you from a particular member of the Order,"

An envelope came flying at Jade and would have hit him in the middle of the face had he not brought his hand up in time to catch it. "And who of the Order might this be from exactly?" He tucked the envelope into his pocket to be read when they had more time.

"I leave that for you to figure out," Sync quickly left with his unconscious burden before anyone could respond to him.

Tear turned around to make sure the residents had not been hurt by the fight. Then she saw that the land had cracked to the point of making a cliff behind them all. And many of the residents were still below! There was no way for them to escape, unless they could figure out a way to climb up before the land fell much further. Unfortunately, many of those down there were elderly and such a climb would be impossible for them.

"Someone, get a rope! I'll go down there and sing a fonic hymn!" Tear declared.

"No! There's too many!" Jade exclaimed. "We have to find another way!"

"If only we had a way to fly!" Luke declared. "It would be easy to get all of them out then."

"Hmm, flying. Luke, Natalia, do either of you know anything of the experiments in Sheridan?"

"Experiments?" Natalia asked. "Which ones? They are researching many things in Sheridan."

"I had heard about a flight machine being developed," Jade mentioned. "It was a rumor going around in the military. Do you know if that holds any truth?"

"Actually, I do recall hearing about that," Luke agreed. "Father took much interest in the development of machines. I remember overhearing him speak of flight experiments in Sheridan."

"It's worth a shot. Do you think if they have something that can help us that they would even loan it to us?" Tear asked.

"I think between, Luke, Natalia and Ion here, we should have no problems on that note," Jade surmised. "Luke, Natalia, will you be joining us?"

Luke looked over at Natalia. He wanted to help, but he also didn't want to drag her along for all of this. What had just happened had to have hurt her more than she was showing right now, "I want to help these people. They may not be Kimlascan, but I don't want to see more deaths because of Van, if he was the one who caused this."

"I agree. If anything, our aid is will help maintain peace between our countries," Natalia agreed while trying to maintain a calm appearance. "And does it matter what country we are from? We are all people and if it's within our power to save them, we should."

"Then we better get moving. It's a long way to Rotelro Bridge," Jade suggested.

"Why Rotelro Bridge?" Natalia asked.

"It's where we parked the Tartarus," Ion mentioned. "Jade, once this is all over, can you return me to Daath?"

"Of course, Ion," Jade allowed. "Let's get going to Sheridan."

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	27. Problems and Solutions

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

The Tartarus was on its way to Sheridan, which was proving to be a rather long trip. Everyone was on edge; time was no longer on their side. To try and save as much of it as they could, they met up on the bridge to plan what to do when they reached Sheridan.

It was actually a very simple plan, all they had to do was find the mayor of the city, or if the mayor was not available, then whomever was in charge of the flight experiments. Of course, that depended on the flight experiments still being ongoing. Lives depended on the fact that Sheridan had a device capable of flight at this point.

Having finished making plans, they moved on to other issues. "Jade, what was in that envelope that Sync tossed to you before leaving?" Ion asked.

"Oh, this?" He said while pulling the envelope from the pocket he placed it in earlier. "I hadn't opened it yet."

"You should open it. Sync usually doesn't do things like that," Anise suggested to him

"If I must. Normally, I would prefer not to take gifts from God-Generals."

He opened up the envelope and all that it contained was a photograph. The picture was one that even someone as emotionless as himself would find amusing. He couldn't help but smirk at the image of Dist screaming with his hands appearing to be stuck to his pants. The only thing that was strange was that Sync had said it would be obvious who the gift was from when it was opened. Who in the Order of Lorelei would take the trouble to have that sent to him via Sync? Or was it Sync himself who had it taken?

"So what is it, Colonel?" Anise inquired.

"A photograph," Jade answered.

"Nothing else?" Ion questioned.

"No, nothing else."

"What's the photograph of?" Anise asked.

Jade held the photograph out for the others to see. Immediately upon seeing it, Anise burst out laughing almost falling out the chair she was sitting in. Even Ion found himself snickering a bit, Tear held back laughter behind her hand. Luke and Natalia remained silent, even the humor of the photograph couldn't break through their dark moods.

"That's just too funny, Colonel! Why would Sync give you something like that?" she asked.

"I don't know. Seems the Order has someone who hates Dist. That is all I can gather from this photograph."

"But for what purpose would they do that?"

"Probably to throw us off? Or to just make Dist look foolish since they have to know Dist and I used to be friends."

"It's still very funny!" Anise remarked. "Even if I have to wonder why Sync would bother."

"Luke, why so silent?" Tear remarked noticing that both he and Natalia hadn't said a word since the whole thing started. Actually, he had been quiet ever since fighting Kiran. What had happened?

"Yeah, Luke, you usually are more talkative." Anise remarked.

"Look, I need some rest. Natalia, could you come with me?"

"Sure." Natalia answered him as she stood up to leave with him.

Luke and Natalia left the room and went to the cabin they were to share. Luke sat down on the bed. It wasn't big enough for the both of them, but that really didn't matter. She could sit beside them, since he knew she was going to want to berate him for what happened. He had made a stupid mistake, and he knew it. He deserved whatever was coming to him from Natalia now. Luke closed the door behind them and made sure the lock was securely bolted.

"Luke, are you hurt at all?" Natalia inquired. "We didn't have time to check for wounds when we left, but I could look at them now."

"Just a few cuts on my left arm, nothing major."  
"Please, let me heal them, you don't need to be in more pain. I can tell you already hurt enough from having Kiran attack you."

"If you must. I can deal with a few scrapes. It's nothing more than I got while fighting monsters or training with Van."

Natalia readied herself to cast the simple fonic arte that could heal his wounds. Luke's wound quickly closed up after glowing yellow for a short time once she finished casting it. She grabbed a cloth and wet it and cleaned the blood from his arm. "There, that should do it."

"Thanks, Natalia. I should have listened to you before now."

"Yes, you should have. But that's water under the bridge now. Now we have to deal with it. What happened to Kiran? I thought he cared about you?"

"He does. That was the Curse Slot. Remember my asking to find out how to remove it?"

"That's a Curse Slot?! It's quite fearsome. It can make him act completely against his will? Amazing that such an awful ability could exist."

"Yes, Even though Kiran would rather die than hurt me, you saw it for yourself. He tried to kill me. He would have too if I hadn't figured out how to control him and got him to fall unconscious."

"So how are we to remove it?"

"I wish I knew. I really wish I did."

"Perhaps it would be best if you didn't see Kiran again until it's gone. For your own safety, of course."

"Is that the only reason?"

"Of course. Why would there be any other reason for it?"

"I don't know. You seem to not like Kiran that much, or maybe it's his abilities you don't like?"

"I don't dislike him or his abilities!"

"Are you sure about that? It doesn't bother you in the least bit that we have ways of speaking to each other and you will never hear what we say unless we share it? Because you sure are acting like it!"

"It doesn't bother me! But why wouldn't you share anything that is important for both of us? You wouldn't keep secrets from me, so why should it bother me?" Natalia fibbed slightly. If she were being completely truthful, she would admit that something about Kiran did bother her. She just couldn't quite place what it was. The Curse Slot didn't help ease her mind one bit. He tried to kill Luke, and that bothered her a lot. However, Luke liked him, so she couldn't exactly express this to him, all he would do is stubbornly deny anything. That and even after what happened in St. Binah, she couldn't bring herself to completely dislike Kiran. If what they had both said was correct, Luke wouldn't be sitting here with her now if it wasn't for Kiran. For that alone, she owed him more than she could ever repay.

"Knowing what you now know, can you deal with it though?"

"I don't know, really I don't! I just don't want you getting hurt because of him!"

"That's the problem. I don't know how to face him. He wanted my death at one time. I saw the memory in my mind! I can't believe that!"

"He did?!" Natalia said, "But why would he? He obviously cares about you."

"He didn't want to be a tool to be used and thrown away when he was no longer of use and then replaced by me. Damn Van! How could he say that to him!"

"Van told him that?"

"Yes. His purpose was to replace me in Akzeriuth. Then at the last minute, Van decided to discard me and keep Kiran. And to think, I used to trust him. I can't believe I ever did. I'm so glad I realized the truth now."

"Van wanted to kill you? But why?"

"Because I wouldn't cooperate with him!"

"But why?"

"Oh that's right, I didn't tell you. He may well have ordered my father's death. Could you trust someone who did that to you?"

"No, of course not. I don't blame you at all for feeling that way."

"That's why he needs to die. I won't let him manipulate other's lives anymore."

"But killing him? Are you sure about that?"

"At this point, there seems to be no other way."

"Luke, could you explain to me what happened in Akzeriuth? I heard from the others, but you never said anything."

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"Please?" She pleaded.

"All right, but remember you asked. It's not at all pleasant," Luke warned her. He then went on to tell her everything that happened, right up to the last detail, even going onwards to Kiran saving his life. Natalia remained silent the whole time, letting him talk without interruption. Once he finished, she was about to say something when a knock was heard on the door.

"Who's there?" Luke asked.

"Luke, may I speak with you for a bit? There's something you need to know." Ion requested from behind the door.

Luke looked confused. What could Ion have to say at this time? Luke got up and opened the door. "Ion, come in. I don't mind."

Ion stepped inside the room and saw Natalia sitting on the bed. "Are you sure? I didn't interrupt anything private between you two?"

"No, nothing at all. We were just talking, that's all, Fon Master." Natalia explained.

"Please, call me Ion." Ion requested. "Anyway, I wanted to explain to you something Luke. I don't know how much you know about Curse Slots, but it seems Kiran is affected by one. Did you know this?"

"Yes. He told me." Luke answered.

"Luke, let me explain to you how they work. It's a Daathic Fonic Arte. Only Fon Masters should be able to use such an arte. I don't know how Sync was able to use such an arte, but that doesn't matter right now. I asked Jade to return me to Daath so I can remove the Curse Slot from Kiran."

"You would do that, Ion?" Luke questioned.

"Yes. He deserves to at least be able to make his own decisions." Ion explained. "Now, I have to explain something to you. A Curse Slot doesn't work by controlling the person's actions. The user actually brings memories and emotions to the surface, and that will cause the target to act in a way that they may not feel at this time."

"So at one point, Kiran wanted Luke dead then?" Natalia asked,

"That would have to be true. Or else he wouldn't have tried to kill Luke. But that doesn't mean Kiran still feels this way. He can very well have changed his mind."

"That explains a lot. I saw some memories of his, from when he was younger."

"You saw his memories?"

"Yes. He and I can communicate via a connection between us, since he's my replica. I saw a younger version of him being told what his purpose in life was. He hated it and didn't want to be thrown away like a piece of garbage. I admit; I don't blame him. Van tried to do the same to me. I can forgive Kiran, and I would really appreciate it if you could remove the Curse Slot, Ion."

"As soon as we get the residents of St. Binah to safety, I will do so. Until then, please stay away from Kiran. It appears that the Oracle Knights have orders to kill you. We will have to be careful. Kiran is definitely the most dangerous of them at this time, since Sync can control him."

"I'll heed your words, Ion. Would it be all right if I speak with him over our connection? Can the Curse Slot work over it if we are not near each other?"

"Sync wouldn't be able to tell when you are speaking with each other. He would have to get the timing right. Chances are good that you are in no danger as long as you are not speaking to him face to face. I can't make any guarantees though, I never heard of a power such as yours. Or you can ask Jade about it, if anyone would know, he would."

"Thanks, Ion. I appreciate you taking the time to tell me this. It eases my mind a bit."

"Luke, the best thing for you to do now would be to talk to Kiran. Only Kiran can tell you if he still feels that way. If he does, you should stay away from him. The Oracle Knights can use his feelings against both of you even without the Curse Slot."

"How is that?"

"He doesn't want to die. Who does, really? He may very well still have a death sentence hanging over him. I wouldn't be surprised if he did. It's a way for them to control him, and he can't go unpunished for not following orders."

"But why would that work? He doesn't want to follow the orders, so what good would threatening to kill him do?"

"If faced with the chance to live, or certain death, what would you choose?" Ion asked Luke. "You may think now you would do the right thing, but if you were in a circumstance where your life truly did depend on it, would you change your views to live?"

"So you are saying Kiran may change his mind?"

"I'm saying you should talk to him, and understand his point of view." Ion suggested. "That's all you can do. Both of you will need to talk this over. Anyway, I'll leave you two to discuss whatever you were discussing before."

"Thanks Ion. Your words are a big help." Luke graciously said to the boy.

"You're welcome, Luke," Ion responded. He then left the room, shutting the door behind him to allow Natalia and Luke their privacy.

"Luke, are you going to talk to Kiran then?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, probably when we are both asleep. We seem to get more accomplished that way, since neither of us are distracted."

"I don't understand, you can speak in your dreams even?"

"Yes. When asleep or unconscious, we can enter each other's minds. But we both have to be in that state, or else it doesn't work."

"I see."

"Natalia, don't worry. I doubt anything can happen. Neither of us can get hurt there, and we can't use the connection there. He can only talk to me and I can only talk to him."

"But…"

"Natalia, please, Ion even agreed that he doubted Sync could affect me through Kiran over this distance. There's no reason to be concerned, or is there something else?"

"How can you get the rest you need if you do that?"

"It's not tiring to me, Natalia. It's been happening since before Akzeriuth and I was fine then."

"Wait, you two have been speaking to each other for that long? And you didn't say a word to me about him?"

"How could I? I didn't know who he was until I met him at Akzeriuth. When I was last in Baticul, I had only seen him once in my dreams. I didn't even know his name, much less that he was my replica. I just thought it a strange dream until it happened again after I left."

"You can't keep those things from me! Please, don't ever do that again!"

"I won't. I only did that because I couldn't tell you about something I didn't even completely understand."

"But that isn't a reason to keep things from me. I'm your wife, you shouldn't keep things from me. I could've helped you."

"It won't happen again. What good does it do to concentrate on how we could have changed things? We need to concentrate on what we will do now to save all those people who are depending on us now." Luke stood up and walked towards the door. "I don't know about you, but I'm going back to the bridge to help them make plans."

"I'll be up shortly. Go on ahead."

He left the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. What had happened between them to cause him to no longer share such important things with her? That bothered her a lot more than she cared to admit. And that she could only blame on Kiran. If she ever saw him again, she would definitely have to speak with him about this, if he didn't indeed wish to kill Luke after all.

If he did still wish for Luke's death, she would kill him herself, if that was what needed to be done. It didn't matter what Luke thought, his life was too important to her.

-----

Natalia and Luke returned to the bridge to find Anise still looking at that weird photograph and Jade manning the controls of the Tartarus. Tear was also looking at the picture and trying to help Anise come up with theories on what it might be about. She looked up in time to see Luke and Natalia enter.

"You're back, " Tear said to them when they entered.

"Sorry we ran off like that. We had a few things to discuss," Luke apologized.

"I had thought so," Tear mentioned. "A lot has happened, and you likely have a lot to get off your chest. I'm glad Natalia could help."

"I thought so," Tear replied. "A lot has happened, and you likely have a lot to get off your chest. I'm glad Natalia could help."

"A few more hours," Jade predicted.

"That long?" Luke questioned.

"Unfortunately, yes. Sheridan isn't exactly close to St. Binah. It's on the other side of the world, we're lucky to be making it this fast," Jade explained.

"Luke, none of us like how long this is taking. But don't worry, when Hod fell, it took a month to fall completely from what I was told," Tear told him.

"It did?"

"Yes. There is a place called 'the dividing line' where gravity keeps a hold of things, I guess. Once a piece of land passes that, it falls fast, but until then, the process is actually very slow," Tear explained further to him with a sad look on her face.

"That's a relief at least. Not many people were able to get out, and all of them are still stuck there. Damn Sync and Dist for interrupting things!"

"Tear's right. We have time, just not much. Be patient, we will get there," Jade told him.

"But what do we do once we rescue all the people?"

"That's the hard part. Without the Sephiroth, the land will sink into the Qliphoth. They will have to find new homes unless we can do something about it. Losing Akzeriuth and its resources was enough of a blow to the world as it was," Jade explained.

"How is that going to affect the world if we lose the land?"

"Well, the minerals Akzeriuth mined were shipped throughout the world. They were used for many things. The mines weren't producing as much as they had in past years, but they were still producing well. It will be hard to come by some of those minerals, but a new source would have had to be found eventually," Jade explained.

"So prices will go up for anything that uses those minerals then?"

"That's one consequence. Prices go up when the materials are scarce. Another consequence is that many may lose their jobs if they make items using those materials. Less materials means less work," Jade mentioned. "The loss of land doesn't just affect those who lived there. Many lives were lost in Akzeriuth, and many more will be affected by the loss of resources."

"That's awful!" Natalia exclaimed. "Can't something be done?"

"They can find other work, but many may have trouble doing that. It really is a shame, because so many depend on things from other places. Many depend on the materials that come out of St. Binah, since they are used for healing items and can't be found elsewhere. And I hope nothing happens to Engeve, the whole world depends on the food from there." Jade explained.

"I hope not either," Natalia agreed. "Baticul is very dependent on food from Engeve, and it's not easy to get it to Baticul as it is. But without that source, many would starve."

"Yes. That is why we must save these places. The lives lost from the loss of more land, along with the lives affected by their loss is enormous," Tear pointed out.

"But how do we save the land itself?" Luke asked.

"That is something that will have to wait until we save the people." Jade told them. "We can only do one thing at a time, and that is more important."

"True. Every life we can save is very important." Natalia mentioned. "But it would be a shame to save their lives, only to have to tell them their homes are no more."

"Homes can be rebuilt. The dead cannot return to life." Jade commented

"Yes. Nothing can restore the dead to us." Luke said. "That's why we have to save them!"

"Everyone, go get some rest. We have a few hours, and it will be easier to convince the researchers of Sheridan on a good night's sleep than it would be when tired." Jade suggested.

"But what about you, Jade?" Luke asked.

"Old men don't need as much sleep."

"Sure they don't. You should try to rest."

"And who would pilot the ship then? The Tartarus wasn't equipped with autopilot. That is beyond our current level of technology."

"Can't we take turns at it so you can rest?" Luke suggested.

"Can any of the rest of you pilot this ship?" Jade asked all of them

A silence broke out. He was right. None of them could pilot this ship, at least not without crashing it into land.

"I thought so. The rest of you should get some rest," Jade suggested.

-----

Kiran sat in the pitch black field with his back against the smooth black wall. The only light was the light that was surrounding himself, but that suited him just fine. He didn't want to see anything else, not even himself really.

He was devastated with what had happened in St. Binah. It didn't surprise him that he saw Luke there; he somehow suspected that it would happen. He had to admit, he was pleased Luke did so well in a fight so soon after recovery. No, what upset him was the fact that again he was forced to hurt Luke and that was the last thing he wanted to do. His greatest fear was that Luke had seen the memories that Sync had dragged up. Old, long forgotten memories of the days he wished for nothing more than the chance to live, even at the cost of Luke's life. If Luke had seen them, any friendship they had was most likely over. That was the most upsetting thought. He could feel tears flowing to his eyes at the thought that his own stupidity when he was younger may have cost him one of the few friends he had ever been able to make. Luke definitely meant the most, because he understood him the best.

"Deep thoughts there?" Luke's familiar voice said from the right side of him.

He wiped at his eyes to rid them of the tears that were threatening to overflow. "Yeah, perhaps."

Luke sat down next to Kiran. "Want to talk about it?"

"What is there to talk about? You hate me now, don't you?"

"I'm not sure. I can understand your feelings there, but what confuses me is that what you told me before doesn't match up with what I saw. Maybe you can explain that more?"

Kiran looked at Luke, "You have to understand, when I was first made, I was very confused at first, because I knew I was not a normal person. I knew I was a replica. Then one day, I accidentally overheard Van call me his tool."

"I had gathered that much. You seem like the type to ask a lot of questions." He nodded, "Yes. Once I could talk, I asked about everything. I didn't always get all of my questions answered, but what could be answered I got answers too. I figured there was no other way to learn, because most assumed I already knew certain things, since I was old enough."

"So you asked what it meant for a person to be a tool. I don't blame the others for not wanting to answer that. That somewhat reminds me of when I asked my parents questions they didn't want to answer, I would be told to ask someone else. Eventually I got an answer if I asked enough, but I didn't always want to hear it. It's hard to first learn about some of the less pleasant things in life, isn't it?"

"Yes. And most people don't get to know their purpose. In a way, I was lucky. I knew mine. I was to replace someone else and my death would help make the world a better place. That was what I eventually came to grips with. It took a long time, and yeah, for the longest time, I wished you would die instead. But I didn't know you back then."

"But you knew you didn't want to die. Truly, I understand. No one wants to die, but it will happen to us all someday. I'm amazed you came to accept it. I bet I would have been bitter and upset until the day it finally happened. You truly are amazing, Kiran."

"Not really, it was years before I came to the conclusion that it was for the greater good that you were the one to live. I still didn't like it, but didn't have a choice. Deep down, I was still trying to prove I was the better of us two, but I couldn't quite master the skills needed to be better than you. You definitely had the advantage there"

"You just had fewer years and had to cram a lot into them. That's all."

"Then I met you. I knew then that my wishes were not important. There were so many who would be upset if you died. Even if you couldn't go back to your family, it was better that you lived. So I fully accepted that I was born for you, to make sure you remained alive. And maybe when we did make the world better, you could go back to your own life and be with those people who needed you. It was definitely better than no longer being in the world."

"Really? I didn't like the idea of either of us dying. I wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself for me. I wouldn't want to live on knowing someone died so I could live."

"Then it worked out for the best. We're both still here, you can stay with your family rather than having them thinking you're dead, and you'll eventually be back to your normal self; you're already well on your way. I was impressed by how well you did against me. "

"You were? I thought I did horribly against you. I couldn't get myself to move the way I wanted to."

"You fended off almost every one of my blows. Considering that just days ago you were in a coma, you're doing very well. Even though I knew what it would lead to, I was glad to see you."

"You knew that you would be asked to kill me?"

"I suspected as much. Why else have me accompany Sync? I was either going to have to kill you or your friends, if not all of you. That's why I didn't want you to go to St. Binah. But, deep down I knew if I mentioned it, you would find a way if you could."

"I figured you wanted me to help you, even though you said you didn't."

"You aren't upset with me for what I did to you?"

"Why would I be? Because you wanted to live? I can't blame you. You didn't know me yet. I was some unknown person who was going to take your life away from me. I would have hated myself if I were in your shoes."

Kiran reached over and hugged Luke tightly. Luke put his arms around his replica and returned the hug. "Thanks, Luke. You really are generous."

"I try to be."

Kiran smiled for the first time since Luke had arrived.

"Oh, did I mention that Ion can remove the Curse Slot?" Luke mentioned.

"No, you didn't. He can? That's wonderful!"

"Yes. He can. He asked Jade to return him to Daath once we finish up with what we are doing."

"Ah, yes. You want to stop St. Binah from falling, don't you?"

"Yes. Do you know if there is a way to do it?"

"No. I don't know all that much about the Sephiroth either. Only that I was asked to do certain things to them for Van."

"Certain things?"

"He asked me to use my hyperresonance in ways that I don't understand. I don't know what it did, but it couldn't have been good."

"Damn him!"

"Sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have done it. Really, I wouldn't have."

"Nothing we can do now except for figure out what it was, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Luke, I have a question for you…"

"What is it?"

"If I were to remain with the Oracle Knights, would it bother you?"

"No. It's your decision to do so. But how could you want to?"

"It might be easier to stop whatever Van is doing from within."

"I can see your point. But is there another reason for it?"

"I admit, I kind of like it here. I have a place with them, and it's not as bad as it used to be. They have started to respect me, except for what I did, but I can deal with that."

"What about Sync's reaction to your refusal to follow orders in St. Binah?"

"I'll deal with that somehow."

"But what if that causes you problems?"

"I doubt it. They have a need of me. I want to know why. I can't find out if I escape them."

"True, but I don't like it one bit. It might not be so bad once the Curse Slot is removed though."

"I doubt there will be an issue with me being among the Oracle Knights. I just hope they don't find another way of keeping me under control. Who knows what other things they might find?"

"If they do, you will let me get you out, right?"

"What can they really do to keep me on a leash besides the Curse Slot though?"

"I don't know. There isn't anyone I'm attached to, so that's out. My life isn't all that meaningful, so they can't threaten it. But I just have this feeling they will think of something awful. If they don't, I want to stay for now."

"It would be a big help. I don't like it, but it's your decision to make."

"I know. I'm doing it of my own free will now. I just won't follow orders to kill you. I'll see what I can do to prevent that order from being fulfilled, or at least find out why it's there. Then maybe you can do something."

"It's probably because Van considers me a threat now. I'm not loyal to him, I have the powers he seems to be seeking, and I have a special connection to you, who is his loyal follower, or so he thinks."

"I doubt he thinks I'm perfectly loyal"

"Then why keep you around if you will just stab him in the back when you get a chance?"

"That's what I need to find out. It must be very important, and it should help you out."

"Yes, I have a feeling that is the answer. We have to find out why Van needs our hyperresonance. Why he is even willing to kill for it."

"You're right. I'll do my best on that note. I have been trying to ask questions, but all I was able to find was that Van wants to make this a better world and that if I want more, I have to get it from Van himself."

"Hmm, who told you that?"

" Largo. And Sync hasn't told me much of anything. He just says I should follow orders without question."

"Well, you are a soldier, you shouldn't have to know the whys as far as they are concerned. That's for those in the higher positions. Just like for civilians. They don't know why their ruler does what he does, that is left to the nobles and the ruler himself."

"I wonder if I should just come out and ask Van."

"I doubt he'll answer that."

"I can always try, who knows, I might get a clue at least."

"Be careful, if you have to do this, at least promise me that much."

"I will. Promise."

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	28. A Moonlit Night in Sheridan

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

Now, I know some have been eagerly awaiting this chapter ever since I shared a few little hints about who gets to spend a few hours on a nice moonlit night together, so I hope it has been worth the wait.

* * *

Luke woke up to the sun shining in the window of the cabin he and Natalia were sharing. Natalia was still sleeping on the other bed, and since the ship seemed to still be moving, they must still have time before reaching port. It was probably best that he woke Natalia, since they could arrive at any time.

He looked out the window to get an idea of how long it might be. He was heartened to see land in the distance; the brown and barren land that he remembered as Sheridan. It had been a long time since he last visited, but it was a very distinctive area, one that he would never forget.

The land itself was devoid of any signs of life besides monsters and some travelers from the port to the city. But it was still among his favorite towns to visit. There was always so much going on. Since the city was the city of craftsmen, something was always being built, and this time they were hoping to find a machine that flew among the creations and hoping to convince the sometimes stubborn craftsmen to let them borrow it.

Amazing, a machine that could fly. No such thing existed at this time. But then, devices like the passage rings were pretty amazing, and those were created thousands of years ago. How could such technology have been lost? It was such a shame it happened, knowing how they were created and how they worked would be so useful now.

Oh well, no time to consider that now. They had more important things to do. First they had to find who was working on the flying machine and convince them that they needed it. That was going to be hard enough. Then who would fly it? None of them could do it, hopefully someone in the city knew how to fly it, and would be willing to help them with this rescue mission.

One thing of benefit, the Sheridan Craftsmen did not discriminate who they made things for. They developed weapons for anyone willing to pay for their services. Only in times of war did this change, since it was still Kimlascan territory. The King would not be overly pleased with the craftsmen providing weapons to the enemy. But all of the landships now in use were originally developed in Sheridan. Luke was proud of his countrymen for having developed such a useful machine, a flying one no less.

Natalia began to stir at last. Good, now he didn't have to wake her up. So instead he began dressing for the day while she stretched her tired muscles.

"So have we arrived yet, Luke?"

"No, but I can see the land in the distance. We must be within an hour of docking at the port."

"That's a relief. I do hope all those people are still all right."

"Natalia, don't go borrowing trouble. We can only do what we can. We will save them all. We can't bear to think otherwise."

"You're right. We have no time to waste on worries."

They heard a knock on the door, "Are both of you awake? The Colonel estimates we're about an hour away from port and he wants to make sure everyone is ready to leave when we dock." Tear said from behind the door.

"Yes, we are. Thanks Tear." Natalia mentioned.

"Okay. Be at the bridge in an hour. We should be ready to head to Sheridan then."

"Then we better get moving." Luke suggested. He bent over and gave Natalia a kiss.

She returned his kiss. "I have missed that, it's been so hectic lately."

"Come on, you need to get dressed too. We also should get something to eat before we leave."

"Yes. It wouldn't do to try to negotiate to borrow the flying ship on an empty stomach."

"Nope, not at all. I also hate fighting monsters on an empty stomach, and we're bound to meet up with some. You remember how the road is, right?"

"Yes, I do. But I do so love the city."

"So do I. I only hope the next time we visit is a more relaxed period and we can enjoy it more."

"After all this is over, you want to come back, with Evelina?"

"Yes, she should see the beauty of this place."

"It's a promise then."

He smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss this time, "And I better stop that before we end up taking more than an hour to get ready."

She shook her head at him, "Men!"

"What?" Luke asked. "Can't I appreciate my wife while we wait to arrive?"

"You should be getting dressed, not thinking about undressing me. I need to get ready anyhow."

He looked a bit disappointed, but not too much so, she was right. He just wanted to try to make things right with her somehow. If she was jealous of the closeness he shared with Kiran, then something would have to be done to make sure that his relationship with his wife had a similar closeness. He finished putting on a change of clothes.

Natalia did the same, they had no idea what was to come of this day, may as well take the chances they could to do the basic things to make them feel more able to do anything. It was amazing the difference a fresh set of clothes made, a few hours of sleep, and the promise of a meal, even if not a hot one. "Did you get to speak with Kiran in your sleep again?" she asked to fill the silence that came over them.

He stiffened. He really didn't want to talk about this now, the fact that he did would likely only fuel more potential jealousy. But if he didn't say it, she would find out somehow. "Yes, I did."

"How did it go? Did you come to a resolution?"

"Yes. He explained the memory I saw of him. I can't blame him for it. I can't say I would have felt any different if I were in his place."

"Even though he wanted you dead?"

"Only because he wanted to live so badly. He eventually came to a different conclusion. Then things worked out even better than he could have hoped, we're both alive."

"What's he going to do now?"

"For now, he's going to stay among the Oracle Knights."

"Even after what they have done?"

"I told him Ion could remove the Curse Slot. Without that, there is really no leverage to get him to follow orders like the one Sync issued. Within the Order, he can find out more."

"I hope you won't come to regret that."

"I doubt I will."

-----

After what felt like an eternity, the group of Luke and the others arrived to Sheridan's main entrance. The city was full of the usual hustle and bustle associated with a large number of people hard at work and while it may not have looked all that impressive, the true beauty was in the amount of creation going on within it. All around them they could see machines being built and repaired. Many of these machines would eventually be shipped throughout Auldrant. The rest remained in the city for research.

All this busy creation did give the entirety of Sheridan a rather cluttered appearance. Anyone walking the streets also had to be careful of random parts that may have fallen or broken off something. Many times they found themselves almost tripping over something that had fallen into their path. This was usually followed by a craftsman coming out and apologizing for leaving a mess, but not always. A few got upset, especially after one instance when Anise accidentally broke the part by stepping on it.

They looked around the entire city and couldn't find any evidence of the supposed flying machine. They were about to start asking around for the mayor of the city of someone in charge of research when they overheard a conversation between three older people, two men and a woman. The conversation was quite animated and loud enough that anyone nearby couldn't help but to overhear it all.

"At this rate we are going to run out of parts to fix the Albiore with!" one older man exclaimed to the others.

"We'll just have to fix it the best we can. The initial test flight can't be delayed now!" another older man declared. He had long eyebrows that made his eyes look rather funny.

"With what parts? We barely have anything left! And then whoever keeps breaking it will just do it again!" the other man yelled to the long eye browed man.

"Iemon, your grandson is supposed to fly it! If this keeps up, the Albiore could crash and he will get hurt! Don't you care about him, you heartless old man?!" the lone female of the group exclaimed.

"Then we will have to set guards by the Albiore so no one can sabotage it before the test flight." The man with the long eyebrows who must be the one called Iemon suggested. "Then no one will break it once we fix it."

"We still have to find the parts to fix it. Almost everything was taken to build landships." The other older man declared. "And who is going to stand guard over it? We don't have even the slightest clue who could be doing this."

"We'll worry about that later, Aston. Let's go assess the damage for now and get started on the repairs," The woman suggested.

The elderly trio left for what could only be assumed to be where the Albiore was being kept. Once they were out of sight, Anise spoke up, "So it looks like we came all this way for nothing, doesn't it?"

"That depends," Jade brought up. "They mentioned an initial test flight. It must be ready for flight if it wasn't for this sabotage."

"Who could be sabotaging the experiment?" Natalia wondered.

"There are a few likely prospects. It could be another researcher jealous of their progress. It could be related to the military of either country afraid it will get in the hands of the other. It could even be Oracle Knights. Dist would love to get his hands on something like this."

"Another researcher or Oracle Knights sounds like the most likely prospects," Tear mentioned. "There is no reason for Kimlasca to delay a project that will most likely benefit them. Also Malkuth is most likely too busy with war preparations to send spies to Kimlascan territory."

"It doesn't matter who it is. We need to see about borrowing this Albiore, and it needs to be in condition to fly." Luke said.

"I advise we look around a bit more. We should know as much as possible about the situation before we come out and ask to borrow such a valued item from them." Jade advised.

"I don't like wasting more time, but you're right, Jade," Luke agreed. "All we know for the moment is that they are having problems with sabotage and they are short on parts. Our best chance for getting them to agree is to be able to offer something in return."

"We should split up then," Tear suggested. "We can cover more ground that way"

"No, we shouldn't split up completely," Jade commented. "We know the Oracle Knights are after Luke and Ion. Anise, you stay with Ion. Luke, you should stay with Natalia. If either of you is attacked, retreat immediately. Understood?"

"Jade, what about you? This is Kimlascan territory." Luke remarked.

"Colonel, Luke does bring up a point. There are bound to be Kimlascan soldiers here who will attack a Malkuth soldier on sight. You shouldn't be alone either," Tear told him.

"Tear, you can accompany me then if you are concerned," Jade agreed. "However, the danger to Luke and Ion is much greater than the danger to me."

Anise snickered at Jade's response. That was so unlike him to just give in like that. "Ion, let's leave the lovers alone and go gather some information!" she exclaimed as she dragged Ion away.

Tear looked confused at Anise's comment, "Lovers? Was she referring to you, Luke?"

Luke smiled and then just shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me. You never can tell with Anise. Let's go find some more information, Natalia."

Luke and Natalia walked off to investigate leaving a very confused Tear alone with Jade. Anise couldn't have been referring to her and Jade, right? Jade was more than twice her age and more of a proper soldier than she was. He wouldn't let emotions get in the way of anything.

"Tear, shall we be off then? Or will you be investigating on your own instead?" Jade interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry, Colonel. I'll come with you. Like I said earlier, you are in as much danger here as Luke and the Fon Master are."

-----

The allotted two hours was coming near to a conclusion and Luke and Natalia were about to head back to the inn when they saw two people they hadn't seen before having a discussion almost as loud and animated as the elders were earlier. The two were a younger male and female. The girl's resemblance to the older man called Iemon was enough to make them realize they should probably pay attention, even if it made them late. Her relation to the elders who seemed to be involved in the construction of the flying machine meant she either knew something, or was also involved herself.

"Ginji, you can't be thinking of flying the Albiore for the test flight! It could crash because of all the sabotage!" the blonde haired girl exclaimed to the silver haired boy she was talking to.

"I'll be fine, Noelle. Grandpa said he was going to set guards by it after the repairs were finished," The silver haired boy attempted to assure her.

"But Ginji, the last time they did the guards were all attacked! I think you should tell Grandpa that you won't do it, unless they can stop the sabotage. I don't want you getting hurt!"

"You know that they won't let either of us get hurt. For as much as it looks like Grandpa only cares about the Albiore, you know he would be the first to stop either of us from flying it if it would be dangerous."

Noelle smiled at his comment. "Yes and then claim that it was for some other reason. That's just like him!"

"And that's exactly why you shouldn't worry," he told her before patting her on the top of her head. "They won't let either of us get hurt. And you just wait, once we get the Albiore off the ground, we can get to work on the Albiore II and you get to fly it."

"That's still a long ways away though. And you know they don't have enough parts left to finish it. Especially with how many had to be used to fix the Albiore," Noelle remarked. "You'll have to let me fly the Albiore someday so I don't forget the training I've already had."

"I'll ask Grandpa about it. So stop your worrying, ok?"

"All right. I'll stop."

"Come on. It's getting late. Besides, at this rate we're going to miss that dinner Grandpa wanted to have with us to celebrate the initial launch coming up tomorrow. Remember?"

"That's right! We can't be late. He'll be very upset if we are!" The younger girl exclaimed and she dragged the silver-haired boy off in a direction that must have been to where they lived.

"Come on, Luke. We need to get back to the inn before the others get worried. We're already late!" Natalia reminded him.

"Do you think that girl is going to take matters into her own hands? She did seem really worried about the boy," Luke asked Natalia.

"How can we know? We don't know her; just that she was worried about him. They're obviously related somehow, it makes sense that she would be worried."

"Yeah, like how you were worried about me. Sorry for putting you through that."

"Luke, I'm not mad at you for trying to leave anymore. In fact, I should apologize for being overly worried when you were actually right about how you felt. I just assumed it was your usual stubbornness in not wanting to stay in bed when you should. I'm sorry, Luke."

"Natalia, you don't need to apologize for caring. People worry because they care. I would have been more concerned if you had let me have my way," He told her as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. "But as you said before, the others will be worried if we don't get back soon. So let's get going."

-----

Jade and Tear were walking towards the inn since the time was nearly up. Sadly, they had found nothing. Tear was relieved, however, that Jade's presence in the city had not caused any problems yet. She knew it was only a matter of time before a soldier saw him and tried to capture him. He would be forced to defend himself and someone would get hurt. He didn't strike her as the type to gracefully retreat from such a situation.

If she was honest with herself, she did find his company to be most interesting. He had a rather unique view on things and she felt she could learn a lot from the man, if he was willing to share.

Anise's earlier comment still confused her, however. Luke and Natalia might be married, but they weren't the type to show affection in front of others. It was obvious they cared about each other by the way they acted, but it wasn't the sort of thing that would spark a comment like that from Anise. In fact, Anise's comment came after she had stated that the Colonel should not be alone any more than Luke or the Fon Master should be. Was Anise implying that she was acting like she cared about him? No, that couldn't be it, could it?

Well, that didn't really matter. Later she could have a talk with Anise and figure out what the girl meant by her statement. If others were getting the wrong idea, that would have to be corrected immediately.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of soldiers coming their way, "Colonel! Soldiers!"

He looked around quickly and saw an alley they could go down nearby. "Turn left down that alley, maybe we can lose them."

She did as he suggested, following him into the alley. They waited until the soldiers passed and were quite relieved when the Kimlascan soldiers kept walking down the street they had quickly vacated, "That's a relief. They didn't even seem to notice you."

"Thankfully, many soldiers have a stroke of laziness to them and don't wish to pick fights. A rather smart trait at times."

"Indeed. But not smart if you were actually a danger to Kimlasca."

He smirked, "If I was, I would have brought a few more men to aid me. I doubt I could take all the soldiers in this city by myself."

"I think you would acquit yourself rather admirably, Colonel. You shouldn't sell yourself short."

"I know my limits. Even with a skilled healer like yourself to assist me, we can only last so long."

Tear felt her face flush a bit at his comment of her being skilled, "Thank you, Colonel."

He shrugged, "It's merely the truth. Your healing skills have been quite helpful during this trip."

Tear felt her face redden more. Why was he affecting her so much? It was just a compliment from a friend, nothing more, right? "We should get back, Anise and the others are probably waiting for us."

"Yes, and we don't need Anise making comments about what could have possibly kept us."

"Colonel, do you know what Anise meant by her earlier comment? You do seem to know her better than I do, so I thought…"

"She was just poking fun at your being protective of me most likely. She has been of the opinion that I need a woman in my life, so it's not surprising that she would comment on something that was merely friendly concern on your part."

They walked towards the inn in companionable silence from there, which again left Tear alone with her thoughts. She was definitely more confused than she had been before she asked. Was it truly friendly concern she felt for him, or something more?

Before she could answer that question for herself, they arrived at the inn. Anise and Ion had already arrived and were waiting for them in the lobby. Two hours had most definitely passed at that point, and Luke and Natalia were not yet there.

"So did you two find anything out?" Ion asked.

"Not a thing, Fon Master," Tear informed him. "What about Luke and Natalia? Have you seen either of them?"

"No," Ion answered while shaking his head. "We didn't want to go and look for them before we knew if anything happened to either of you."

"A sound plan," Jade commented. "Because then we would have assumed something happened to you."

"Should Tear or I go look for them then?" Anise asked.

"Not yet. They may just be running late. Let's give them a half an hour more before we start looking." Jade suggested.

They all nodded their agreement and patiently waited in silence. The allotted half hour had almost came and went when a cheerful looking Luke and Natalia entered the inn.

"It's about time!" Anise exclaimed.

"Sorry," Luke apologized. "We would have been back on time, but we happened to overhear something of importance on our way back."

"Oh?" Jade raised an eyebrow. "And what could that be?"

"We happened to overhear a conversation between a young boy and girl. The boy, Ginji, appears to be the pilot of the flying machine we are looking to borrow."

"What did they speak of?" Ion asked.

Natalia explained what she and Luke had heard from Ginji and Noelle during the course of their conversation. She left out the part where her and Luke spoke about it after they left, since that was more of a private conversation between them.

"Hmm, so the test flight is tomorrow then," Jade commented.

"What are you thinking, Jade?" Ion asked.

"If someone wants to stop them from getting the Albiore, as it's called, off the ground, tonight seems like the best time to act."

"Yes. Whoever is doing this must be aware of when the test flight is to take place," Tear pointed out.

"I would be surprised if the perpetrator didn't at least know that much," Jade agreed.

"Last time the guards were attacked," Luke stated.

"That just proves how serious whoever is doing this is. I think we can rule out other researchers. It is very unlikely they would have the resources or skill to attack guards."

"That's true." Tear agreed. "Unless it's the Oracle Knights' Research Division. They would have the manpower to stage an attack if they wanted something bad enough."

"I doubt it's them. Dist is in charge there. He couldn't pull off something like this without being caught. Dist may love fon machines, but I doubt this is his doing."

"And according to what Kiran told me, the Researchers seem to be devoting their time to replicas," Luke commented.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Jade said. "Dist always did have an obsession with them. Ever since…well, that's not important."

"Ever since what?" Tear asked.

"That reminds me. Jade, how do you know so much about replicas?" Luke inquired.

Jade sighed. He knew this would come up eventually and that Luke was the most likely to bring it up. No matter what his feelings on the subject, it was something that he would find out eventually, but now was not the right time for that. "That's really not important now, is it?"

"Probably not, but it may be helpful to understand."

"No, it wouldn't. Anyway, back to the subject at hand, since Dist has an interest in replicas, I doubt he would be involved in this," Jade mentioned to change the subject. Luke may deserve the truth, but he didn't want to get into great detail about his past. "We shouldn't rule it out completely, but it's very doubtful."

"It does seem more like something that the Oracle Knights would do, however," Tear mentioned. "Is there another God-General who would take an interest in this city?"

"Why didn't I think of it sooner?" Luke brought up. "Nepenthes. He loves fon machines. I always remember seeing him staring at the ones in Baticul and messing around with any he could get a hold of when he had time."

"That is a distinct possibility," Jade agreed. "Anise, you said he's the commander of Special Operations, correct?"

"Yes." Anise answered with a nod.

"While he may not be personally involved, having spies in this city would be the sort of thing Special Operations may be up to. This could be anything from attempts to steal the plans to an attempt to stop the project completely," Jade commented.

"The question is, what should we do about it?" Luke wondered. "Obviously if this Albiore isn't ready to fly, we can't borrow it. Plus if we help them with this problem, they'll be more likely to let us borrow it."

"The obvious answer would be to find out who is doing this for them," Tear mentioned as a potential suggestion.

"Yes, that would be the obvious solution," Jade allowed. "However, as we have found, they have tried this already and the guards set to prevent it have been attacked."

"Maybe instead of setting a guard, we should watch the area from a distance. Then when we see the guards get attacked, we know who it is and go after them," Luke suggested.

"Then we can more easily set up an ambush for the saboteurs. They won't be expecting more people guarding it than those set around where the craft is," Tear added.

"That could work," Jade agreed. "Luke, you should stay here with Ion. If we are right about it being the Oracle Knights being involved in this, you two shouldn't be seen by them. The rest of us can take turns standing watch for half the night in groups of two. Anise, you and the Princess should take the first watch. I'll take the second with Tear. That way there is a healer in both groups in case there are more than we think involved in this."

"Colonel, where should we watch for the saboteurs?" Anise asked.

"That is a good question. We do know the likely direction where the flying craft is being kept, and it can only be in a large building."

"I can scout out a good spot!" Anise volunteered.

"Will you be all right by yourself, Anise?" Tear asked.

"Yeah. I'm the least likely to be noticed of all of us." Anise told them.

"Anise, make sure that the location is either high up enough for us to see or large enough that even one of my height can be out of view. A rooftop near the site would be ideal. A sturdy tree would suffice if our Princess is able to climb trees." He said while looking over at Natalia.

"Yes, I can climb a tree just fine," Natalia told him which caused Luke to smile as he remembered the many times she did just that to sneak in and out of the castle.

"Somehow, I don't find that surprising in the least." Jade sighed. "Though my old bones would prefer not to be in a tree for half the night."

"Got it. I will find a nice rooftop then so the old man can be comfortable," Anise teased as she departed.

-----

The night was almost half over and it was nearly time for her and Jade to relieve Anise and Natalia so they could get some sleep.

Tear found herself amazed that she actually felt nervous about this. She looked out the window at the moonlit sky. It was a beautiful full moon, a perfect romantic setting to spend with someone she cared for. That was what was making her nervous. Of all the people she could be spending her time with this night, it was the one that confused her feelings the most.

She was starting to wonder if perhaps Anise had been right. She did like the older Malkuth Colonel, but as a lover? That was the part she wasn't so sure about. She did like the feeling that she had gotten earlier when he had complimented her. It was different from when anyone else complimented her, so that had to mean something.

Maybe it would be best for her to get to know him better, and in turn for him to get to know her and that would allow her to sort out her own feelings. But honestly, she found it so strange that she hadn't even noticed that she was treating him differently from the others until Anise made that comment. However, if Anise noticed, the others may well have and just had not commented. Well, at least this beautiful moonlit night was a chance for them to talk while they waited.

That was likely what was making her so nervous. She was so afraid that she would make a fool of herself now. She knew so little about him, even though they have been traveling together for some time now. All she really knew was that he was nearly twenty years older than her, which was not an insignificant age difference. She also knew that he was very intelligent and knowledgeable on many subjects that she was not. If given the chance, she could enjoy a long conversation with him on many subjects, all of which she would have an interest in. At least she knew this evening would not be in the least bit boring with the Colonel to keep her company.

She finished getting herself ready. If she was late, she would indeed make a fool of herself. A soldier should be punctual at all times as she well knew. Once she was completely dressed, she splashed some water on her face to both clean herself up and to wash away the last traces of sleep. She really didn't have time for much more than that. She also quickly ran a brush through her hair to get rid of the worst of the tangles that developed in the few hours of sleep she did get.

Having done all that, she was as ready as she was ever going to be. She just hoped that either no one came as they feared, or that it was over quickly. However, even if they came quickly, it was agreed that they would maintain a watch, in case more came. If it was indeed the Oracle Knights, it was highly doubtful there would be just one group, especially if that group failed. If they were determined enough to sabotage the craft, they would do whatever it took.

She walked out into the lobby to meet with Jade so they could leave for the designated spot and relieve Anise and Natalia. As she had expected, he was already waiting on her. He looked impeccable as always, not at all like he had just woken up. He didn't appear as if he was impatient, just early for meeting up with her.

"I wasn't late, was I, Colonel?" she asked.

"Oh no. I just have this awful habit of being early." he told her.

"That doesn't sound like such a bad habit, unless you truly hate waiting."

"Can anyone say they like waiting for something?" he asked.

"I doubt that. Well, shall we be going then?"

"Yes. I'm sure Anise and the Princess are about to fall asleep now, knowing them."

Tear smiled, he sure did seem to know the young Fon Master Guardian well, and had no problem expressing the honest truth about others. She definitely found that a most refreshing trait. She walked towards the exit in silence and he followed her.

They kept silent while walking down the streets to their location. The last thing they needed was to be disturbing the residents of Sheridan in the middle of the night over to this. It was best to catch those causing problems and bring the criminals to the researchers, if not the Kimlascan soldiers.

They quickly found the rooftop upon which Anise and Natalia were sitting looking very bored. Natalia was ready to fall asleep at any moment, but Anise appeared to be her usual cheerful and perky self. It made Tear wonder how that girl ever got any sleep.

"Anything to report, Anise?" Jade asked the girl.

"Nothing at all. The most boring four hours of my life. I had to wake Natalia up more than once, but otherwise absolutely nothing happened."

The Kimlascan Princess sent a glare over to the young Fon Master Guardian at her comment. That caused Anise to giggle since the glare was honestly more humorous than menacing to the young girl.

"Well, you two may go to bed then," Jade informed them. "Tear and I can take over from here."

Anise bounced up from her seated position, "Enjoy your time together, Colonel." She said, winking at him.

"I'm sure we will," he told the girl, which caused Tear to blush a bit.

Anise made sure the sleepy Princess was awake and let her know that they could go back and get some sleep now. Both of them left the area, leaving Tear feeling even more uncomfortable than she had before she had left the inn. She took a seat on the rooftop so that she didn't embarrass herself by falling off. She felt so nervous that she was sure her legs were shaking. What was wrong with her? This was just Jade, she had been traveling with him for some time now. There was no reason to be nervous around him, right?

She made sure that she had a good view of the single entrance to the aircraft bay Anise had found earlier. Even from this distance, she could see the guards set there clearly enough. It was a good spot indeed. Not only that, but they were high up enough that she could see a good amount of the city itself if she looked around. She would have to go to the other side to get the best view of the city, since the aircraft bay was on the westernmost edge. Jade sat down near her and was looking in the same direction.

"Tear, you shouldn't let Anise's comments bother you. She has a tendency to find one's weakness and will comment on it. If you don't react, she won't continue commenting."

"I'll try not to let it bother me."

"It is likely difficult to prevent yourself from blushing every time she mentions me, correct?" Jade smirked while looking into her eyes.

"Perhaps. It's the way she says it though." Tear mentioned.

"Don't let her get to you."

"I'll try not to."

They sat in silence just watching the guards at their work. Jade seemed perfectly fine with not talking, but Tear was finding it most uncomfortable. At least if they were stuck out here, they should do something else to while away the time. She just really hated sitting there and doing nothing. If she couldn't go somewhere, then at least getting something accomplished would make her feel less nervous and antsy.

"Colonel, may I ask you a question?"

"You may, but I may not answer. And please, call me Jade."

"Why have you been avoiding the subject of replicas so much with Luke?"

He sighed. "I really would prefer to forget about it, but it likely would be best if someone understood. If I tell you, can you promise me that you will not tell any others? Not even Luke or Kiran?"

"But shouldn't they know?"

"Let me tell them myself if I have to. Do I have your promise?"

"You have it. I promise no one besides you or myself will know unless you tell them yourself."

"I probably should start out by explaining to some degree what I was like as a child."

Tear smiled at the thought of him as a child. "Somehow, I imagine you were a handful."

"That could be one way to put it, but really the most worrisome thing was the fact that as a child, I was very good with fonic artes. At the same time, I didn't quite understand the concepts of pain and death."

"I can understand how that could be a problem. You are quite talented, and if you can't understand what you could do to others, that could cause a lot of harm."

"Perhaps so. I understood some things, for instance, I knew my sister would cry when she was sad or hurt."

"You have a sister?"

"Yes, she's younger than me. Anyway, one day she broke her doll and was crying over it. I didn't understand how it could cause her such sadness, but wanted her to stop crying, so I made a replica of it. She stopped crying and smiled instead, happy that her doll was fixed. I was nine years old at the time."

"Wow! You could do such a thing so young?"

"Yes. But that is not the reason why I don't like speaking of it. That happened later. I went to school with some other kids, including my sister, and even Emperor Peony would sneak away to attend. We were taught by a retired Oracle Knight by the name of Professor Gelda Nebilim."

"Somehow, I see her liking a student like you, very intelligent, quick to learn. You were probably the smartest in the class."

"All of us did like her, and she doted on her students. Saphir, you know him as Dist the Reaper, would follow either her or me around all the time. But no matter how much knowledge I could gain, I was never quite satisfied with one thing. And there was nothing I could really do to change it. Back in those days I did try."

"What was that?"

"My inability to use the Seventh Fonon."

"It really bothered you that much?"

"Very much so. I disliked the fact that I wasn't born with the ability to use it, but could use the rest exceptionally well."

"So what happened then?"

"There were many times where I tried to use it. Most of the time nothing happened, but one time Professor Nebilim found me while I was experimenting, and the place caught on fire. I got out unhurt, but she didn't make it in time, she died of burns and smoke inhalation from the fire I caused." Tear gasped in shock at this revelation, but said no more, letting him continue with the story, it didn't appear to be over yet. "I guess I thought I could fix everything by making a replica of her. Dist argued with me and said we didn't have machines to make replicas there. I explained that I could do it with fonic artes like I had with Nephry's doll, and like with Nephry's doll, it would erase the sadness we felt. Dist didn't argue further. However, at the time I did not know that replicas had no memories that their original had, and could even have a different personality. I cast the arte and did make a successful replica. At that moment some soldiers came to the scene to investigate the sudden fire, the replica attacked them and swiftly murdered them."

He paused for a bit to gather his thoughts further. "That was the first time I ever truly felt fear. I feared for my own life and the fact that I had created a monster. But there was nothing I could do, she got away before I could do anything. I heard about what she had done, and then eventually she was sealed away."

"Sealed away? She wasn't killed then?"

"No. No one could kill her. She was too powerful. It took many just to seal her away somewhere where it is to be hoped she will never be found again. To this day, I regret what I had done. I tried to make things right by forbidding others from doing what I did so nothing like that could happen again. That is also why I entered the military."

"To atone for what you felt was a crime. But you only made a mistake. You didn't know before you did what you did what would happen, right?"

"No."

"Then why beat yourself up over it? It was a mistake. We all make them as children. Then we learn from them and never repeat them. Some of us may make greater mistakes than others, but you have a great ability, it is to be expected that something may happen."

He was just shocked that she wasn't completely horrified by what he had told her. He hadn't told any others, but he imaged that they would be horrified. Saphir was indeed horrified by what happened, but then he couldn't say he would not have done the same if he could. Neither of them had made a replica of a living creature, much less a human, how could they have known? He still found Tear's ability to realize that and not hate him for it amazing. Now, the question was, could he trust her to keep this to herself? Only time could tell on that matter. He looked over at her, and from her expression he could tell she was sincere

"Col-um, Jade, for someone who says he can't understand pain or death, you sure have put yourself through a lot to hide this. Are you afraid if you told the others that they would think less of you? I can't see that happening, especially with Luke. He bears the same guilt. He wouldn't think less of you."

"Still, I don't want you to tell him."

"I won't break my word. I'm just curious about one thing, why create a replica?"

"Professor Nebilim's death would have caused pain to those I knew, a replica could replace her. That and I think I wanted her forgiveness for what I did. But I know now, I can't have that."

"If she was even half as kind as you said she was, I think she would forgive you if she could. Thank you for telling me this. I'm glad you could trust me enough to allow me to understand you better."

He appeared like he was going to say something, but whatever it was got interrupted by the sounds of screaming. From the corner of their vision they could see the guards being attacked by two people clad in dark colored clothing.

"Looks like our guests have arrived at last," Jade commented.

"Two of them should be no problem to handle. I'm surprised they so easily handled the guards."

"How much range do your fonic hymns have?"

She thought a moment. "I doubt they could reach to there from here, but if I got a bit closer, I could use them."

"Good, stay out of sight. I want them to think I'm alone."

"You're going to take them yourself?"

"I can take two men easily enough. With you at range, you can warn me about reinforcements, if there are any. Plus it would give us an element of surprise."

He had a point there, but at the same time, she made a silent vow that she wouldn't let him get hurt. They had no idea who they were up against, and he would be outnumbered this way. "All right. I'll use my fonic hymns from a distance."

"Find a place out of sight near the entrance. I'll go down there and wait for them. Don't do anything until you see me attack."

"Got it. I'll try to put the other one to sleep, then assist you from range."

"Good, let's go, we don't know how much time we have."

Both Jade and Tear climbed down from the rooftop. The Malkuth Colonel headed towards the entrance, with his spear out and ready. Tear quickly found a place out of sight and a distance away. She made sure that she had a good view of the site. Being able to see what was happening was crucial when she was using her hymns.

She watched carefully for the invaders to come out. They weren't expecting anything, so it was unlikely they would find another exit. The guards had been swiftly taken care of, so there was nothing that would prevent them from leaving. Soon they should be out, once they achieved whatever their objective was in there. She just had to wait and watch and hope for the best.

After what had felt like an eternity, but was in reality only a few minutes, her patience had been rewarded. She saw the two men from earlier come out. Jade had attacked one right away, so she started singing her fonic hymn. Moments later, the other man fell over, asleep.

Now it was just a matter of helping Jade take care of the second one. They didn't want either of them to be killed, so they were both to use non-lethal force. They had many questions for these men, and those couldn't be answered if they were dead.

Before she could even act, her comrade had the other man incapacitated and was working on tying him up. She ran over to the area, since the other would have to be tied up before he woke up, or else he would get away or attack Jade. Neither of those options were a result she wanted. She reached him quickly enough and offered her assistance in tying up the remaining man.

"What about the guards?" Tear asked once she finished tying the last knot to secure the man.

"For now, it's best if we just leave them. We can't stay here long, they would capture me just as quickly as these men." He opened the door to go inside. "Wait here."

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to see what was done."

"Don't be long, I don't want to have to harm the guards if they wake up before you come out."

"I won't be long. You need not be concerned for me."

"I wasn't!" she said though her face showed that she was, causing him to smirk at her most fascinating show of caring. That was the last thing she saw before he entered. She didn't have long to wait until he came out again. Thankfully for Tear, no one woke up in the meantime.

Then they heard another scream, this time it was obviously a woman who sounded like she was being attacked. "Tear, watch these two, I'll go check the situation." he said before he ran off to go help the woman in distress, giving Tear no time to respond to him.

He came upon a younger blonde haired girl being accosted by two men. They were dressed in a similar manner as the two that had come to the aircraft bay earlier. The girl appeared to be trying to defend herself, but she was having trouble against two men who were both larger in size than she was.

Unfortunately, he couldn't use a fonic arte on them, they were much too close to the girl. She would get hurt also if he did that. The best option was to surprise them and at least remove one attacker from her, if not both.

He moved quickly towards one of the men with his spear ready to attack. As with the other two, he didn't want to kill them, in case these two were associated with the other two. They needed to find out who was behind all this. It wasn't hard for a soldier as skilled as him to use non-lethal force when the situation dictated.

He was lucky, the men were so focused on the girl they were attempting to molest that they hadn't even heard or seen him at all. Before they could even react, he had one of the men knocked out with a blow from his spear.

The other man looked up from his target and looked shocked the moment he saw Jade. He pushed the girl to the ground roughly and tried to run away. The girl screamed out in pain the moment she hit the ground. She obviously needed help, but at the same time, the other man was getting away. A fonic arte came to mind as the only option at this point. He couldn't leave the girl with the unconscious attacker, and a fonic arte was the most likely to actually deal with the one getting away. He was about to cast it when he heard from a distance away a familiar voice singing. It must be Tear using her fonic hymn. The man fell over, unconscious.

"Tear, I thought I told you to stay with the other two?"

"You did. I used my hymn again on them when I heard more screams. They won't awaken for anytime soon."

He sighed, having no choice but to accept that at this point. While she did go against his wishes, he can't deny that her assistance came at a good time. If things worked out well, then fine. Someone who thinks and does something well was always valued by military commanders. "Could you look after the girl while I handle these men?"

"Of course," She said with a smile knowing that he said nothing further because her help was indeed appreciated. She bent down beside the young girl and looked over her to get an idea of what sort of injuries she may have.

The girl screamed once Tear bent down beside her, "No! Don't hurt me!"

"Shhh, I'm not with those that attacked you. I'm here to help you," Tear said with a soothing voice. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Noelle,"

"Noelle, do you think you can stand?"

She shook her head, "I-I'm not sure if I can."

Tear looked at the blonde girl's legs. Looking more closely, her right leg did appear to be at an angle that at minimum had to be painful, but was more likely the sign of a more serious injury. "Noelle, this might hurt a bit, but I need to do it to see if your leg is broken or not, okay?"

Noelle nodded hesitantly, "Go ahead."

Tear gently placed her fingers on the girl's right leg and looked over at her to see her reaction. She seemed fine for now and it felt normal to her. She moved her fingers further down the girl's leg trying to gently feel for anything that seemed out of place. As she got closer to Noelle's ankle, the girl appeared to be in more pain from Tear's touch. Then she felt what was causing the pain, the bone did feel like it was broken.

"I'm sorry, for hurting you, Noelle. Can you bear it for a bit long so I can set it?"

She saw a slight nod from her patient. She could see tears sparkling in the blonde girl's eyes as a result of the amount of pain she was had to be in, but it would soon be more bearable for her. "You're doing just fine, Noelle. This will just take a moment and then the pain should lessen greatly."

Tear quickly snapped the broken limb back into place which caused a shriek of pain from the girl. She then used a fonic arte of healing to get the healing process started and lessen the amount of pain for her patient. Sadly, she wasn't skilled enough to heal a broken bone with just a fonic arte, but even being able to lessen her pain was something.

"How's she doing?" Jade said from over her shoulder all of a sudden, startling her.

"Her right leg was broken. I set the limb, but will need something to splint it until a proper cast can be made by a doctor here."

"If one of you goes to my place and wakes my brother, he could help with that." Noelle suggested. "He's probably awake already anyway."

"Where is your house, Noelle?" Tear asked.

"End of the street on the left."

"Could you please do that, Colonel? I hate to leave her alone right now."

"It isn't a bad idea. I can't exactly turn in the attackers to the Kimlascan guard without risking being arrested myself. What is your name and your brother's name?"

"My name is Noelle. My brother's name is Ginji. Also, thanks for your help earlier, Colonel."

"Tear, the attackers have been restrained for now near the aircraft bay, all four of them. Good job earlier. I'll be back shortly with Noelle's brother. Stay with her until we return."

"I will."

The two women waited for the return of Jade and Noelle's brother, Ginji. Thankfully their wait wasn't as long as it could have been and Jade returned with a boy perhaps a year or so older than Noelle within a few minutes, but with silver hair instead of Noelle's blonde hair.

"Noelle! What were you thinking trying to go after those men yourself?!" her brother yelled at her.

"I'm sorry Ginji, I just wanted to help."

"Please, she's hurt. We need to take care of her injuries now." Tear scolded the boy.

"Sorry. Thanks for helping her by the way, both of you."

"It's not a problem, Ginji. Colonel, did bring something to use as a splint?"

"Of course, _Locrian Sergeant_." He answered her with a smirk as he handed her a stiff piece of wood that would work well for her, along with some thin rope to tie it.

She frowned a bit, then realized what he was doing. It had to do with their talk earlier. She took the items from him, "Thank you, Col-um, Jade."

He bent down beside her as if he were going to assist her and whispered to her, "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Her face flushed at his statement. "Noelle, how's your leg doing now? Does it still hurt?"

"No, it doesn't hurt now. Thanks for your help."

Tear was finding that Jade's close presence was making her fumble at what she was doing, but with his assistance, they quickly finished tying the splint to her leg. Now she could be moved to somewhere more comfortable until a doctor could see her.

"Ginji, there are four men restrained by the airport bay. Could you report that to the soldiers while we take your sister back to your home?"

"Sure. It's the least I can do to repay you two for your helping Noelle and the city by catching those guys. I'll meet you there so you can explain more about what happened." he said before he left.

"Noelle, will you be okay if I carry you to your home?" Jade asked the girl.

"Yes, I should be fine thanks to your companion's care for me. Really, we do appreciate all your help."

"It's no problem, Noelle." Tear told her as Jade gently picked the girl up into his arms.

They walked in silence to Noelle's home at the end of the street. It was a small and cozy place that she shared with her brother Ginji. Jade gently laid her down on a couch that was in the main room.

"Do either of you mind staying a bit while my brother handles those men?"

"No, we don't mind. In fact, both of you have been a great help so far." Tear explained.

"Really? How so?" Noelle asked.

"We had come to see about possibly borrowing the flying craft being made here." Tear explained. "We need it to evacuate people from a city that is about to be in very serious danger."

"The Albiore? But it isn't even ready for flight yet. It would have been if there hadn't been delays."

"Yes, we are aware of that. We heard of the problems that were going on, along with the attacks on the guards from asking around. We're sorry that we couldn't stop tonight's sabotage, but at least the perpetrators have been caught now."

"Yes, and I'm sure Grandpa Iemon will be pleased to hear that." Noelle mentioned.

"Now, what were you doing out there, Noelle?" Jade asked the girl.

She flushed a bit in response before answering, "I had hoped to stop them myself. I was afraid Grandpa would rush things too much and my brother would get hurt. All that ended up happening was that I got hurt."

The door opened and Ginji walked inside as she said the last part, "You shouldn't have gone little sister. Anyway, those men have been turned into the guards. In the morning, I'll inform Grandpa about it, including who actually caught them. Now, I'd like to know a bit more about what's going on here."

"Brother, they explained to me. They wanted to help because they need our help too."

"In what way?"

"Ginji, many lives in St. Binah depend on our being able to find a way to get them out of there. At this point, the Albiore is our only hope, unless we can find another way." Tear explained to him.

"The only problem is, the Albiore will need repairs before it can fly. We may not have the parts to make the repairs because of this war. The parts were needed for landships."

"We have a landship. Any necessary parts that cannot be obtained otherwise can be taken from it," Jade offered.

"How's this? I need to speak with Grandpa in the morning anyhow. He's one of the people in charge of the building of the Albiore. You can come along and explain this to him. We don't have any say, but the fact that you did help us will likely weigh heavily."

"Yeah, all he cares about is getting it off the ground," Noelle said.

"But still, we owe you greatly for your help, and what better way to test the Albiore than on a rescue mission? Then we can do the tests and help people. I know if it were my decision, I would agree."

"When will you be meeting with your grandfather, Ginji?" Tear asked.

"Work on the Albiore usually starts at eight o'clock in the morning sharp. Since we need to speak with him, how about we go a half an hour earlier?"

"That would be fine. There are four others in our team, can they come?" Jade asked.

"Sure. I imagine Grandpa will enjoy meeting all of you. It isn't every day that you see someone from the Malkuth Military traveling with an Oracle Knight. It must be very important for you to come to Kimlascan territory during war and risk arrest."

"It is." Tear agreed.

"Do both of you have a place to stay?" Noelle asked. "Ginji could come there on his way, right, Ginji?"

"Oh, yeah. I probably should come by for you. Even though you seem to know where it is."

"We are staying at the inn. We will meet you in the lobby then."  
"Sounds good. Then we will see you a few minutes before seven thirty? I don't want to keep both of you up any longer."

"Actually, we had planned to watch the rest of the night in case of others arriving."

"Don't worry about it," Ginji told them. "They only came once a night and from previous reports, the number caught should be all of them. Get some rest so you can help those people who need you."

"Noelle, will you be okay?" Tear asked. "We could go find the doctor on our way back if you want us to."

"No, you did fine. I can wait until the doctor wakes up. It's not an emergency or anything. My leg doesn't hurt one bit. Again, thanks for everything, and I hope Grandpa agrees to help you out."

"Good night, Noelle, Ginji. We'll see you in the morning then." Tear said to them before turning to leave with Jade.

"Good night!"

Jade and Tear then left the small house to head back to the inn and wake the others. They still would have to prepare what to say.

But this was progress, the odds were in their favor for once.

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And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	29. Unspoken Declarations

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

Also, of note since some concerns were raised about the last scene in 28, I don't know if this was due to my own fault in the descriptions of Tear's feelings, or something else, but what I intended to show was just a slight level of attraction towards Jade, which Tear had appeared to be showing towards Luke in the game from the beginning. Basically that bit of nervousness where a girl realizes she's interested in someone and would be interested in a relationship with him (basically, if he asked her on a date, she would say yes, to put very simply), not the level she felt for Luke at the end of the game when she said, well, you know if you beat the game. I hope this clears things up if it was my fault, and really wish I had room for the first scene here in the last chapter, since it helps clarify some matters.

* * *

The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon while Jade and Tear were making their way back to the inn to go wake the others.

"We still have some time before we have to wake the others, correct?"

"An hour at most. Why do you ask?"

"Could we watch the sun rise?"

He smirked a bit. Oddly, it didn't surprise him in the least that she would be fascinated with the beauty of the sunrise. She had grown up in a place that never saw natural light. It was interesting that she would express this now, when she hadn't shown any special interest in the past, just as it was interesting how well she had hidden the fact that she wasn't raised in the Outer Lands.

"I suppose we can." He answered with an appearance of reluctance. Honestly, he didn't mind spending a bit more time alone with the melodist. It was doubtful they would have the chance later.

They walked over to an area that would allow for a more unobstructed view of the horizon. If he were being fully honest, he had to admit that it was a nice diversion to watch natural wonders such as a sunrise. Most of the time he was too busy to enjoy just watching something of this nature, much less with a woman as like the one he was with now.

"How is it that you were able to hide so well that you had been raised in the Qliphoth?"

"Any resident of Yulia City who is going to be sent to the Outer Lands has to undergo special training so that they don't accidentally reveal the fact that the Qliphoth exists. We are familiarized with things that are normal for the Outer Lands and considered common knowledge."

"That sounds quite sensible of the Order."

"But still, there is a difference between seeing a picture of a sunrise and actually seeing it like this. No picture can capture this beauty. Some things you can only truly understand by experiencing them firsthand."

"Wise words from one so young. Are all those raised in the Qliphoth like this?"

"I can only speak for myself, but I am sure others share the opinion that nothing compares to firsthand experience; especially something as beautiful as a sunrise. And especially seeing it..." Her hand flew to her mouth all of a sudden to stop her words. Her face was a slight pinkish hue that it had not been before.

"And especially seeing it how?"

"It's nothing."

"Then shall we change the subject to something else? Perhaps you could tell me more of the fonic hymns you use."

"What about them? They aren't anything overly special."

"Actually, they are. Your fonic hymns have as much power to them as my own fonic artes. I have never known a Melodist with such ability before. Was it something special you learned from those in Yulia City perhaps?"

She shook her head, not at all surprised that he had noticed. She may as well tell him this much, since he shared his secrets with her, "No, most Melodists in Yulia City are exactly as you described. The hymns I use were used by Yulia herself from what I was told. They have been passed down over the years."

"Yulia's fonic hymns? And to think, you said they weren't special at all. But weren't those lost?"

"No, she passed them along. They are more difficult to use, because they require knowledge of the symbolism behind them. That is why I only can use two of them. I know more, but haven't been able to understand their symbolism. Normally it's something that would be passed along with the hymns, but my parents died not long after I was born."

"Then Teodoro did not have that knowledge to pass along?"

She shook her head again, "He's not my grandfather, at least by blood. He took my family in and when my parents died, he adopted Van and I and raised us."

"He took you in? Why would you say that?"

"My family is originally from Hod. When it fell, my pregnant mother and my brother were the only two survivors. My mother didn't live long after having me."

"That explains a great deal. Could your brother be mad at what happened to Hod?"

"He was at one time, but Grandfather says he has learned to accept the Score and has become an admirable watcher."

"But do you believe that?" he asked as he looked over at her so he could see her face while she answered.

"No, I don't believe it. If he was, then why is St. Binah falling? That wasn't in the Score, but it had to have been caused by him. Who else could have done this?"

Interesting, he hadn't expected such a look from her. It appeared to be a mix of concern, anger and fear from what he could tell. Anger he understood, even fear. She obviously still held some feelings for her brother, even though she did try to kill him already. "What are your plans then once we finish this up?"

"My brother must be stopped, even if I have to do it by myself."

"Do you truly think you will be alone in this?"

"Does that mean you will be helping us?"

He shrugged, "Well, someone has to make sure you kids don't get yourselves killed."

She looked over to him and saw that he had been looking at her. She found herself looking right into those crimson eyes of his. As always, his expression was unreadable. She couldn't tell if he was joking or serious, and she knew that she wouldn't get a straight answer even if she asked, unless he wanted to give it.

If anything bothered her when it came to him that was it. There was so much that he kept hidden from everyone else. He revealed some of what he was hiding in the depths of his soul, but she doubted that was all.

But she may as well try to get an answer, she got one earlier from him, "Would you truly be upset if one of us were to die?"

"Of course. If something were to happen to Luke or Natalia, that would cause quite a problem. The same goes for Ion."

"But what about myself? And Anise? Neither of us is as important as the Fon Master, Luke or Natalia."

"Don't underestimate your importance to others. I won't let anything happen to you if I can help it."

She was surprised by the seriousness of his tone that time compared to his previous statements. There were few times when she could tell for sure if he was indeed being serious or not. This time she knew, except for one thing, was he implying that she was important to him?

She hadn't even realized how nervous she had gotten under the close scrutiny she was being given by him. Not until she felt his hand touch her shoulder in a gesture that would normally be reassuring. From him, she had no idea what to make of it.

"Are you cold, Tear? You're shaking as if you are."

"No, not at all. The sun feels good and warm."

He smiled a bit, it wasn't like his normal sarcastic smirk. It appeared almost like genuine pleasure at seeing the effect he had on her, "You don't need to be so nervous around me. I assure you, I don't bite, well, not without reason."

She felt her face get warm over his accurate opinion of her current state. She was nervous around him. This night she had come to realize just how important he had become to her, how reassuring his presence truly was. But at the same time, that knowledge made her more nervous around him. What made it worse was that she didn't understand well enough how she felt. Was he merely a close friend or did she want something more from him? She had to admit, if he were to admit he cared for her and wanted a relationship with her, she wouldn't refuse, but would he do that? She had to admit he had bared his soul to some degree by telling her what he did in the past. He risked that she would hate him, but yet she couldn't bring herself to look down on him for a mistake, especially one he felt such obvious remorse over. No one did that for just anyone, and now he was promising to protect her. That thought made her smile, because she felt very reassured knowing that he would be there to look out for her and the others.

"I know you wouldn't. You just said you wouldn't let anything happen to me, right?"

He removed his hand from her shoulder, "But I make you nervous. We will definitely have to work on correcting that matter. But for now, we have other things to do."

"Yes, we have to wake the others before Ginji arrives."

"Yes, unfortunately our time together is up for now. Shall we head for the inn then?" He said as he turned away to start walking towards the inn where the others slept.

She turned in the same direction as he did and followed him, "Before I forget, thank you."

He stopped all of a sudden, "For what?"

"The pleasure of your company and the chance to get to know you a bit better. I feel that I understand you better now, and I know how hard that must have been."

"It was best you find out now rather than later. Before it's too late."

He started walking again and she had to walk quickly to catch up with him, "Too late for what?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean."

She thought about his words as they continued to make their way to the inn in a comfortable silence. As they reached the building, the answer came to her.

He knew exactly how she felt, possibly better than she did. But the question was, when she figured out what she truly felt for him, would he return her feelings?

She knew he had to. He wouldn't have let it come this far. He wouldn't have insisted that she use his given name to refer to him, told her what he did this night, and promised nothing would happen to her. He wanted her to know what she was getting into. Truly, once she thought about it, he was a lot easier to figure out, at least when he used this more serious tone rather than his normal sarcasm.

And that made her smile. For all his denial, deep down, he did have a heart and care for other's feelings. He just showed it differently than most did.

Now only time would tell what would come from this…

-----

Jade and Tear entered the inn after their talk and found Ion already awake and dressed. He was sitting in the lobby area eating breakfast already with a tray full of food next to him, most likely for Anise. When he heard the door open, he looked up and saw Jade and Tear.

"How did it go for you two?" he asked them, while taking note that Tear's cheeks looked a bit flushed. Was she running a fever? Or did something else happen?

"We captured the men responsible for the sabotage." Jade answered for them.

"And?" Ion asked, wanting an answer for why Tear looked the way she did.

"They were turned in to the Kimlascan guard." Tear answered.

"Oh? How was that done? Jade couldn't have done it, since they would arrest him on sight."

"We met up with a resident of the city who had gotten hurt by the attackers. Her brother helped us with the more legal aspects of the matter." Jade explained. "Ion, are the others awake yet? We are to speak with those in charge of the project in about an hour."

It seemed he would not get an answer out of them about Tear, at least that meant that she probably wasn't sick, Jade would have already strongly advised she get some rest if that were the case. "Anise and Natalia are still asleep, they seemed exhausted. Luke hadn't woken yet and I didn't want to bother him."

"Should we let them sleep and just take the Fon Master with us to speak with those people then?" Tear asked.

"That would be for the best. No matter what Luke may think, he can't be completely up to all of this. Anise and Natalia would be of more help if well rested. We still have a rescue to accomplish."

"What about the both of you? Jade, you've gotten the least rest of all of us." Ion pointed out. "Maybe I should go with Tear so you can rest before this."

"I'll be fine, Ion."

"Jade, he's right. I'll go with him." Tear told him. Ion's eyebrow raised when she heard how Tear was now referring to him, and how protective she was being. Perhaps Anise's wild accusation hadn't been so wrong after all. It would be interesting to see what unfolded from that, especially knowing Jade as he did. Yes, it would be interesting indeed to see Jade finally fall for a woman, if that was what was happening here.

The Malkuth Colonel sighed. As much as he might want to admit that he was tired, he was still needed for this, "Tear, you remember what I said to them? Only I have any authorization to give up the Tartarus for this."

"What do you mean by that, Jade?" Ion asked.

"From what we heard, they are lacking in parts to fix the results of sabotage due to the parts being used for landships. If we want to rescue the remaining residents of St. Binah, then we may very well have to sacrifice the Tartarus to do so."

"You can do that without permission?" Tear asked.

"You heard what Peony said. He doesn't want anything to happen to the residents. If we took the time to ask, he would approve."

Anise walked into the room looking rather tired from the previous night, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Jade was just explaining what happened, that's all," Ion told the tired girl.

"So did you catch those guys, Colonel? Were they Oracle Knights like we suspected?" she asked showing more evidence of her normal cheerful self.

"Tear and I did catch them. However, we did not have a chance to question them. I'm sure the Kimlascan soldiers of this city are more than capable of doing so."

"Before we leave, we should find out if it was someone from the Order. If so, when I return to Daath to remove Kiran's Curse Slot, I can also look into that and see that whoever masterminded this is punished for it."

"I'm sure we can find that out when we ask about the Albiore. If they were indeed Oracle Knights, they will be glad you are going to handle the matter, Ion."

Anise walked closer to Tear and said to the melodist in a quiet voice, "So how did you enjoy spending time alone with the Colonel?"

That single statement caused Tear's face to turn even more red than it had been before due to her earlier conversation with him. Just that alone was enough to cause Anise to erupt into a fit of giggles.

"You know that's not nice, Anise," Jade told the girl, which made Tear look at him surprised. No, he couldn't have heard that comment of hers, but she was appreciative of his assistance.

"Boo!" The Fon Master Guardian said sticking her tongue out at him.

He smiled in his usual sarcastic manner, "What exists or does not exist between Tear and myself is not the business of a child."

"I'm not a child!"

"Of course you aren't, Anise," he replied with that sarcastic grin of his.

That made Anise even more upset that she had been with the original comment, but amazingly enough, she didn't even respond to his contradictory comment. She sat down next to Ion and ate the food that he had ordered for her earlier.

"Anyway, to change the subject, Anise, is the Princess awake?" Ion asked.

"Nah, she was out like a light. I doubt anyone could wake her if all the noise I made while dressing didn't do the trick."

"It seems the Princess and her husband hold that trait in common. Perhaps it is something that runs in royal blood. Though it isn't a bad trait unless someone were to attack her." Jade told them. "It seems it shall be just the four of us then."

"I'll leave a message with the innkeeper for them then. We don't need them to get worried about us all being gone." Ion suggested, standing up to go and do so.

"Good idea. The last thing we need is Luke out looking for us right now by himself." Jade said.

Ion walked off to go leave the message with the innkeeper. Anise ate her breakfast in silence which left Tear and Jade rather uncomfortable for the time being.

Ion came back as they were both wondering what to do. He was also carrying a tray with some food obviously meant for Jade and Tear. "I left a message with the innkeeper. He had made breakfast and there was still some left, so I brought you both something to eat if you hadn't already eaten."

Tear took a seat near the young Fon Master, "Thank you Fon Master for thinking of us. No, we didn't have time to eat."

Tear's statement caused Anise to snicker. Ion looked over at the girl and she stopped as quickly as she had started. "I promise Anise will behave."

"Oh, I know she will. Because each time she does not, I would be happy to bring up such things when she gets a boyfriend." Jade remarked as he sat down next to Anise.

Anise had been taking a bite of her food and nearly choked on her food. "Fine, I won't bother you anymore."

"That's good to hear, so I won't have to bring up how much you appear to like Ion."

Anise's face flushed as pink as her uniform at that statement. Ion looked confused and looked over at Anise, "You do, Anise?"

"Not like he's saying! I just like you as a friend, ok?" She exclaimed.

"Odd, that's not the impression I got, Anise. You really should stop leading him on like that." Jade mentioned.

Tear couldn't help but smile at his wonderful way of making sure that Anise never badgered them again, a simple little taste of her own medicine seemed to work wonders. Though she couldn't help but feel sorry for Anise who was glaring daggers at Jade. Interestingly she found the whole exchange very funny once she wasn't on the receiving end of the embarrassment.

"I'm not leading him on at all! He's just a friend!" she insisted quite loudly.

The Malkuth Colonel pushed his glasses up before commenting, "If you say so, Anise."

"Please, both of you stop this. I think Anise has learned her lesson now and won't bother the two of you ever again." Ion said to try and stop this line of discussion.

They continued to eat in silence. Anise was especially keeping quiet, most likely out of fear for what Jade would say next in response. Jade merely continued eating, though Tear could see a very smug grin on his face. She had to admit to being curious about what exactly made him smile like that, whether it was his comment to Anise, or something else?

It didn't matter what it was, she was just grateful that she would have little to worry about when it came to Anise in the future, at least if he was around. But now she could always bring up the matter of Ion. Hmm, was Jade's statement at all true, or was it indeed a true denial? It could be interesting to see what would develop there as time passed. Anise's spunkiness with the Fon Master's innocence was indeed an interesting combination.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Ginji entered the lobby for them. He saw Jade and Tear right away and greeted both of them. They quickly handled the polite introductions of Ion and Anise, along with more complete introductions that hadn't been done the previous night. The young boy was understandably in shock upon meeting the Fon Master face to face.

Then he showed them over to the aircraft bay where they others working on the Albiore were going to begin working. He took them to see three elderly people that they had recalled from the previous day.

"Grandpa Iemon, Aston, Tamara, I want you to meet some people."

The woman looked at them, "Oh? Who are these folks, Ginji?"

"Let me introduce Fon Master Ion of the Order of Lorelei, his Guardian Anise, Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants of the Oracle Knights and Colonel Jade Curtiss of the Malkuth military. Last night the Colonel and Locrian Sergeant caught the guys responsible for the sabotage."

"Did they now? Splendid! Now we can get this thing off the ground at last!" The older man with the long eyebrows they knew to be Iemon said.

The woman hit him over the head with the tool she had been holding, "It can't fly yet, it's not fixed yet!" She turned to the group, "Fon Master, and the rest of you, you have our gratitude for what you have done. If there is anything we can do in return, let us know."

"Actually, we did have a request, if you would consider it?" Ion told them.

"Of course."

"We would like to humbly request the assistance of this city in a rescue mission. Many residents in St. Binah are in grave danger as we speak. The only way we can save them is if we could borrow the Albiore. Once repairs are made and it is able to fly, of course."

The elderly group considered it for a moment before the woman spoke again, "We only have one problem, it appears as if more damage was done before the saboteurs were caught. We don't have the parts to fix that damage it seems."

"If I may make an offer?" Jade commented. "We happened to overhear about how many of your parts were being used for landships. We traveled here on a landship ourselves and if we can borrow the Albiore afterwards, the Tartarus is yours to make use of for the parts."

The woman brightened at the thought of that, "Really? Iemon, Aston, do you agree to this offer then?"

"We know Iemon does, he just wants it to fly. I have no problems. No better first flight for it than to save many lives in a rescue mission, right Ginji?"

"I agree. I would be happy to be of help."

"Could the repairs be finished today?" Jade asked.

The woman mulled over that a moment before she answered, "I think so. It depends on if your landship has what we need."

"We'll work as if our lives depended on it to get this done today." Aston declared. "So where is this landship docked?"

"In the bay for this town. We'll take you there."

-----

Kiran opened his eyes and once his vision cleared up, he noticed he was in a room he had not seen before. The last thing he remembered to some degree was seeing Luke again and then he had lost control of everything.

He knew from when Luke spoke with him later that his original had seen things that would have been better left unsaid, but at least Luke wasn't mad at him for those stupid thoughts of his.

However, everything was getting all that much more complicated now. As long as he had the Curse Slot and Luke was alive, they would be forced to fight each other every time they met face to face.

Though Luke had told him the Fon Master could remove the Curse Slot, the problem there was that the Fon Master was currently with Luke. They wouldn't let the Fon Master go back to Daath that easily, so it could very well be that a trap will be set up later to capture Luke along with take back the Fon Master just as they had been trying to do.

But the question was, where was he now? Last he recalled he was in St. Binah, and he doubted this was it. Though the room appeared different, it appeared like a completely empty version of his own room in Oracle Headquarters.

His attempts to figure out what was going on was interrupted by the sound of the door being unlocked and then the door opening. He sat up in the bed he had been laying down in and looked over to the door to see who was there.

He was somewhat surprised to see Cantabile step in and close the door behind herself. She locked it behind her before turning towards him. She must have returned from whatever mission she had been sent on recently.

He remembered that pose from her many times in the past when he was about to be scolded by her. Hands on her hips, annoyed look on her face, yep, he was going to get it. The only good thing about being scolded by her was that while she was the type to be loud and yell at him, she otherwise never hurt him. It was being punished by others that would be much worse, and it was bound that that would happen. This time he wouldn't get off lightly at all.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Cantabile yelled at him causing him to cringe a bit inwardly. "I come back to find that you screwed up again. I taught you better than that!"

"I couldn't exactly think once Sync activated that damn Curse Slot."

She frowned. She had disagreed vehemently when it was discussed that it would be done, "It was agreed that wouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary, are you saying that Sync broke that promise?"

"Would you follow an order to kill someone you cared about? If you were ordered to kill your husband could you honestly say you would do that?"

"This isn't the same at all and you know it!"

"Of course not, but the order I received was very similar to your being ordered to kill your husband, could you do it?"

"That has no bearing on what I have to say to you. Stop this nonsense already. Van won't let you go, and he won't hesitate to do whatever it will takes to force your compliance. Then once everything is over, he will dispose of you. Do you truly want that?"

He shook his head, but then, what Van wanted him to do was even less tolerable, "I don't. But I also won't follow that order. Isn't there anything that can be done? Why do I have to be the one to do it?"

"You aren't supposed to ask why, just follow orders."

"I won't follow that one. I never liked killing, and I won't kill Luke or his friends."

"If I were you, I'd learn how to fake compliance somehow. Think about it, Sync doesn't object to failure, if you try to follow orders."

His eyebrow raised all of a sudden. Was Cantabile really telling him to pretend like he was loyal but not to be? No, she couldn't be, there wasn't anyone more loyal than her and her husband, except perhaps Legretta or Sync. But yet, that is what her words sounded like, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Ask your original about politics, he should understand that well being nobility. Nobles are good at talking and saying nothing. That skill would help you greatly."

He was still confused, "Are you saying to pretend to be something I am not?"

She nodded in just the slightest, "You wouldn't be the only one doing so. I'll leave you to think that over before Van comes to you."

"Wait, there are people who fake loyalty? Isn't that lying?"

"Kid, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Have you not ever done anything bad on a mission then? If so, you're a lucky kid then. I've done lots of things I would rather not have done, all in the name of the Order. If you can't stand that, then you might want to consider a new profession."

"But you said..."

"I know what I said. When there's a will there's a way. Use that brain of yours and consider how to best deal with this. If you want out that bad, you could get help if you know where to look. But that won't happen if they are watching you closely, so get your act together already."

"I'll consider what you said, Cantabile. Thanks for looking after me."

"Just get your act together and remember what I said. Van will be coming up soon, you better have the right words to say to him, even if they aren't true, make them appear to be."

She left the room and it was locked again after she left. That must have been what she meant by them watching him closely. So he would have to prove his loyalty somehow, even if it meant lying.

The problem was, what if he and Luke met up again? It was bound to happen someday, and that was something he couldn't pretend on, other than pretending that he lost to Luke's superior abilities.

Hmm, that could work. Even with the fact that he wasn't fully recovered, Luke was still better at swordplay than he was. With their connection, they could easily stage something where he got defeated. He wouldn't have to refuse that order, he would just have to learn how to act well at failure. That was what Cantabile meant.

But since when did she give advice on how to feign loyalty? Was she doing so herself? If so, she was a very good actress.

He didn't get much time to think over Cantabile's words, a few minutes at the very most, before he heard the sound of the lock rattling and then the door clicking open. This time the visitor was more auspicious, it was Sync, and standing behind him was Van.

Both of them walked in to the room. Kiran wasn't in the least bit surprised to see them, he knew this would be coming since he saw Luke in St. Binah.

What surprised Kiran the most was that another was with them, Cantabile's husband. Well, actually it wasn't a huge surprise, at times he was known to handle cases of serious punishments. Kiran hadn't realized that he would be considered such a special case. If nothing else had convinced him of the seriousness of the situation, the presence of Nepenthes definitely did so.

Van rather enjoyed making use of the man's love for torture to deal with those who consistently caused problems. Kiran had to admit, he was amazed that a woman like Cantabile would marry a man like him, but she had to know a side that wasn't shown to others. Among the Oracle Knights, that side definitely didn't come out at all.

Van stepped forward from his two God-Generals to get a closer look at the former God-General, "And yet again, it appears that you have disappointed me. Sync is telling me that you failed to obey a direct order to attack your original. Is this indeed true?"

Afraid to speak, he merely nodded in response.

"I told you, Commandant. He's a traitor and should be punished like any other traitor would be," Sync told the Oracle Knight leader.

"Sync, you know this is a special case. I assure you, he won't get off as lightly as he did the last time."

Sync muttered something that couldn't be heard by anyone else in the room, but said nothing further in response.

"Well, it seems we have a situation here. We can't exactly get a hold of his original anymore, even if he would cooperate. And the replica won't cooperate much more."

"Van, give him over to me and I'll make sure he cooperates. Sync can have him back afterwards, but once I'm done with him, he will be appreciative to have a commander like Sync." the blonde God-General suggested. "That should be enough of a compromise here. He still is punished for his actions that way.

Van smirked, he must know exactly what Nepenthes meant, "Can you promise not to break him too badly, Nepenthes?"

"He'll bear some scars most likely, but otherwise, he should be able to do whatever Sync asks of him."

Kiran knew this was coming, the Special Ops commander always had a special hatred towards Luke which to some degree extended to his replica. Nepenthes must have been looking for this chance for the replica to misbehave so he could take out that hatred on someone without being punished.

"Sync, do you accept this compromise?" Van asked the masked God-General.

"As long as he keeps his word that my assistant will be willing and able to perform his duties later."

"He'll be willing, Sync. I personally guarantee it." the blonde told Sync.

"Chances are, whatever Nepenthes has planned is worse than a quick death that he would get as a traitor. There is one condition to my agreeing to take him on again, if I may, Commandant?"

"Go ahead, I will consider this condition Sync."

"If he disobeys one more order, no matter how minor, when the Score is no more, I get the pleasure of removing his head."

The Oracle Knight Commandant didn't even need to think this over before speaking again, "Agreed, Sync. You are deserving of that right. Nepenthes, you have 48 hours to turn him into a willing member of the Oracle Knights before he's sent back to his commander, starting right now."

"As you wish. That should be plenty of time."

"Good, then I expect to hear of no more disobedience from this one. Both of you are dismissed." Van said and then walked out of the room. Sync looked satisfied for now at the results of this and also left the room leaving Kiran alone with the blonde haired God-General.

"Well, Kiran, it looks like we got two days to teach you proper behavior befitting a loyal Oracle Knight." he said, smiling in that twisted grin of his. "I really hope that I won't be wasting my time on you. Come, I have a much better suited place than this for our 'lessons'."

He walked over to the door and motioned for Kiran to go ahead of him. Once in the hallway, he closed the door and then led the redhead down to his office in the Special Ops department. During the entire walk, Kiran's dread over what was going to come for the next few days increased. He had heard many stories about those who had personally been punished by the Special Ops commander. He also was considered to be an expert at getting information out of even the most unwilling of subjects, especially if they were Kimlascan.

Sync was indeed right, it would be worse than death. At least that would be quick, he knew that by the end of these two days, he would be wishing that he wasn't special enough to be spared by the Commandant.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	30. A Not So Torturtous Few Hours

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

Kiran was actually surprised when he was taken into the office that belonged to the Special Ops commander. Considering all the rumors he had heard, the normal looking office just seemed out of place in some way. In fact, it looked just like Sync's office, but with less filing cabinets that were instead replaced by an assortment of fon machines in various states of repair.

Nepenthes noticed the redhead's surprised expression and couldn't help smirking. He knew very well the rumors that went around about him, and enjoyed the fact that so many were scared of him.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. You've never been down here before, have you? Surprised?"

Kiran could only nod in response. He was just too nervous about what was going to happen now. His lack of response produced a laugh from the blonde haired God-General.

"Well, this isn't where your lessons are going to take place, you just have to go through my office to get there. Follow me."

He walked over to a door that was very clearly marked to not enter. Even so, the door had to be unlocked before it could be entered, an unusual trait actually. Most rooms, with the exception of personal quarters, lacked locks altogether.

He motioned to Kiran to go first, "After you."

Kiran walked in and saw something much more like what he had been expecting. While Nepenthes locked the door, he took in the sheer horror that made up this room. It was full of devices that looked merely to be there for the purpose of torture. No wonder the room was kept locked. On top of the horrible looking devices, the lighting in the room was rather dim, making it look even more frightening.

"So what do you think? Not many get to see this sight, you know. Only those who misbehave."

Kiran couldn't even respond to this. It was just like how he imagined, this was the very room where those who seriously misbehaved were sent, or those who needed to be persuaded more into giving up their information. This was indeed the room that earned Nepenthes his name and reputation, since he seemed to take great pleasure in spending time here.

Then Kiran saw an interesting sight in the corner of the room, it was a larger machine that was being put together, probably by the God-General. He recalled hearing that Nepenthes also had an interest in fon machines. Maybe that was why he spent so much time here, it was the only place he could pursue his hobby without being bothered, since the door was able to be locked and just the general contents would scare away all but the most brave. He relaxed in just the slightest, enough so that he could speak.

"It's, um, well it's an interesting room. Did you build the fon machine in the corner?" He asked in an attempt to get the God-General talking about something more pleasant.

"Ah, I'm surprised you noticed. Maybe there is hope for you after all. Yes, I built that machine in my spare time. Would you like to know more about it perhaps?"

"If you want to talk about it, go right ahead. I'm used to no one talking to me."

"Kiran, hate to break it to you, but that's because you can't be trusted. We're going to work on changing that, ok? How about I tell you what's going to happen here in the next 48 hours so you can calm down."

"I guess. May as well get this over with."

Kiran's not so friendly companion motioned towards a wall where some chairs that actually appeared to be rather comfortable were at, "Please, let's make ourselves comfortable while we talk."

He let Nepenthes sit down first and then sat down in one of the chairs that were indeed as comfortable as they appeared to be. Did he perhaps invite people in to watch him or was this where he would meet his wife in private.

"Now, as I said before, I'm going to explain what we will be doing here," He started to say. "Sheesh, stop being so nervous about this, ok?"

"Um, I guess." Kiran answered and tried to relax, but he really couldn't, not with what was said earlier.

"Fine, I guess I will have to explain why I brought you here. I don't forget my debts, Kiran. I owe you my life, and with what has happened to you of late, I knew you that Van would agree to send you to me. But I don't plan on doing what I told him."

"You mean you don't intend to teach me obedience?"

His blonde companion chuckled at this, "You misunderstand me. When we finish here, Van and Sync will have no reason to complain about your behavior. You'll be the most loyal assistant Sync has ever had. But with you, pain isn't the correct way to do this. Did Cantabile say anything to you before Van came perhaps?"

"Actually, she did. But she didn't mention you would help."

"Probably because she didn't have time, or she doubted you would believe her. Anyway, you saw a good example of what I'm going to teach you. You saw how I acted in front of Van to convince him to hand you over to me for two days?"

He thought a moment on that. Nepenthes did put on a very good show there, so much so that he was scared to even come down here. He was able to relax just slightly, "I did, you gave all of us the impression that I was going to be tortured nonstop for two days."

"Do you think Sync would have been satisfied if I told him what really is going to happen here?"

"I doubt it. He was very mad."

Nepenthes leaned back in his chair, "And I don't blame him one bit. If I didn't owe you, I would feel the same way he did after what you did in St. Binah. But at the same time, I also can understand how you felt. If Van told me I had to hurt Cantabile, I would turn my sword on him first. You're only crime is giving a damn about someone you shouldn't So I'm going to teach you how to make it appear like you don't give a damn about those you shouldn't, when you do."

"Like how no one knows you and Cantabile are married?"

"How did you find that out, by the way? I know she didn't tell you, and I didn't either."

"You name is Gailardia Galan Gardios, right?"

He scowled upon hearing his real name be spoken by Kiran, but quickly relaxed again, "Let me guess, you went poking around in Duke Fabre's stuff? I know he was coming too close to the truth, which was why he had to be silenced."

Kiran looked appalled. He had heard about what happened to Duke Fabre, but wasn't told about why the orders went out for the death of a high placed noble, "Is that why you killed him then? Over something so minor and personal that he knew about?"

He got a very ugly look in his eyes all of a sudden, "Are you sure you want that answer? It's not a pretty thing at all."

"Will it explain why you would risk your life? Do you even realize how upset Cantabile was?"

"I'm quite aware, but that's between her and me, and basically not your business."

"Then what could make you hate him so much that your hatred would extend to even Luke and then me because I'm his replica?"

"You honestly think that? Nah, I didn't hate you. I hated what you represent. Same damn thing really. I can barely stand the sight of you. It reminds me too much of him and what he did."

"What did he do then?"

"He killed everyone in my household, even the servants. Even my mother and sister who had nothing to do with the war were killed by him. Did you know that my mother was Kimlascan? And even so, he killed her. All because she was married to a Malkuth Count and lived on Hod during the war."

"I-I'm sorry, I never knew that. It's no wonder you would have such a burning hatred for him. How did you survive that then? Wasn't that war years ago?"

"Yes, it was, at least you learned something it seems. I was only five at the time. I wasn't supposed to have survived. I got lucky, and that's all I am going to say on that matter."

"I understand. Somehow, I think if it were me, I would feel the same as you do. But why was your family even targeted like that? I know a war happened, but not much more about it."

"Good to know you aren't a complete idiot then. There might be some hope for you after all. The Hod War has a lot to do with what the Order plans now. I'm hardly the only one bitter about that, but people don't talk about it."

"If it's so important to our plans now, why won't you even tell me the basics that anyone would know about the war?"

"I could. If it's that important, how about a deal here. I tell you what I know about the Hod War, and you explain why you have such problems following orders."

Kiran just nodded in response, not wanting to interrupt the God-General in this telling. Maybe, just maybe, it would give some answers he was seeking about why Van was doing all this. He just had a feeling this was a piece of vital information on Van's plans, though he did not yet understand why.

"Since I doubt you even know the basics, your knowledge on many things was seriously lacking, let me start with the beginning. Hod was an island that belonged to the Malkuth Empire. Due to the Hod War, along with the Score, it no longer exists."

"The Score? What did it have to do with the war then?"

"The Score predicted that a war would happen. There were many experiments being done on the island itself, and Kimlasca deemed this to be a threat and declared war. However, the Kimlascans went overboard in how they dealt with it. Whether they acted under orders from their King for the wholesale slaughter that was done there, or that was their own interpretation of the orders, they had no need to kill the women, children, and servants. But yet, all of them were slaughtered. Few survivors remained, and most of those were by accident. Then the island itself was destroyed by a hyperresonance. Do you want to know who did that?"

"Who?"

"Van. That's why he hates the Score. The Score said he would destroy the 'land of his birth, an Island by the name of Hod.'"

"Is that why you hate the Score?"

"Only partially. I hate Duke Fabre more for killing my whole family, including my mother was from the same damned country as him. He deserved all that he got and more!"

"So Van plans to rid the world of the Score, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. I'm amazed Sync slipped up on that one. He's much better about keeping his mouth shut. You must have pissed him off a lot to have him acting like that. Anyway, so you were going to tell me why you got yourself into this situation."

"Well, you said yourself, you couldn't bring yourself to hurt someone you cared about. I was ordered to kill Luke."

"You weren't even supposed to know of him. How in the hell did you find out enough about him to gain an attachment to him?"

"The powers we have. They allow us to communicate over a distance."

"Hmm, I recall Van mentioning that you gained some strange powers after I had, um, well never mind that."

"What did you do?"

He laughed a bit before answering, "Remember that time Dist got a hold of you not too long ago? He messed around with your fon slots and got some measurements. Then while Luke was out when I kidnapped him for a short time, then I did the same with Luke. We were hoping that to have your fon slots synchronized with his would make you more capable of creating a hyperresonance. Instead, you gained strange abilities we couldn't explain. Dist is such an idiot, why he gets to head the research department is beyond my understanding. It was all his idea too."

"No wonder Sync doesn't want Dist messing with me."

"Yeah, we don't want a repeat of that disaster. However, you will find that ability useful if you want to live."

"Why would that be?"

"Because Luke, while he has the blood of someone I hate, actually has a brain, and was raised in a world where you sometimes have to lie to get what you want. That's what you are going to have to do. I can teach you some tricks, but we don't have that much time, so Luke will have to cover the rest for you. Got it?"

Kiran nodded.

"So let's get started then."

-----

It was nearly sunset when Jade finally returned from taking the elderly craftsmen to the Tartarus and arrived back at the inn where the others awaited him. He had a look of relief on his face, they would be able to leave for St. Binah within the hour. Ginji just had a few last minute things to do before he could go with them. He opened the door and entered the lobby to find Anise, Natalia and Tear sitting at a table.

Tear looked up the moment she heard the inn's door open, she had been worried about him all day. They had only gotten four hours of sleep before, and he hadn't gotten much sleep on the way to Sheridan in the first place. She had been very tired once they returned and ended up taking a short nap. He had to be so tired he could barely stand, but yet she couldn't see any evidence of that at all. She had to admit, she admired the fact that he was able to hide such things so well. She only wished that someday she could be as good as he was at being a soldier if she did continue to serve with the Oracle Knights after this was over.

He broke the silence by stating, "Are all of you ready to depart? We leave in an hour."

"That's wonderful news!" Natalia said. "I do hope we will be in time."

"We're all ready to go." Tear answered him. "Anise made sure to gather what you had, though she said she didn't have to do much."

Anise giggled, "Don't deny it, Tear, you helped, and enjoyed every moment of it."

Tear's face turned a pinkish shade again, which then caused Anise to giggle uncontrollably. "W-well, we did think that we would leave immediately once you arrived." She attempted to say over Anise's giggling.

"Your thoughtfulness is appreciated, Tear." He told her.

"Hey, what about me?" Anise asked.

"Yours is too, Anise. I'm sure you will make Ion a good wife someday, whenever you two realize your feelings for each other."

Now it was Anise's turn to blush wildly. "I said I don't like him like that!" she denied.

Jade merely shrugged in response. He could imagine Tear had to deal with quite a bit of teasing today from the young Fon Master Guardian. His only hope was that in his absence she had figured out how to stop that teasing. Teasing Anise in return about her obvious feelings that were beyond mere friendship for the Fon Master was a good way to do so. He looked over at Tear and saw that she appeared more relaxed than she had before.

Ion entered the lobby where the women and Jade were. He hadn't heard the last few remarks and was surprised to see Anise blushing so madly, "Jade, what's going on? Are we to depart soon?"

"In about an hour, Ion. What about Luke? Is he here also?"

"He was finishing gathering his things when I left the room. We wanted to be ready to go when you arrived, so he should be ready soon."

"Good. I'm sure he's up to this journey, or else his wife would have said something by now."

"Yes." Natalia answered. "He's actually doing very well considering…"

"Yes, considering that not long ago he was in a coma. It is rather surprising. Most people require a much longer recovery time from such a thing." He finished for the princess. "We don't have time to take him back even if he wasn't up to the journey anyhow."

"And knowing him, he'd just find the rest of you again." Natalia told him.

Luke came into the room at that time, "She's right, Jade. And with the Order after me, I'm better off with you guys anyhow."

"He does have a point." Tear mentioned. "Van would definitely be able to find him in Baticul."

"And the Order could easily force King Ingobert to hand his heir over. Mohs is likely in Baticul at this time, considering what we heard from Emperor Peony. I doubt the King would have drafted such a letter to Emperor Peony without Mohs convincing him it was the best course of action."

"Yes. That has to be it." Luke commented. "Uncle doesn't want a war, but he also has to protect his people. If Mohs is convincing him that Malkuth is going to attack, then he would do something. But even so, St. Binah needs to be saved first, then we can worry about stopping this war."

Natalia knew that comment was meant for her. She did want to stop this war, but she also didn't want the people of St. Binah to die because of the land falling. "You're right. But we do need to speak with Father soon and try to do something."

"We can discuss our plans once we have finishing in St. Binah," Jade commented. "Ginji should be arriving at any moment now."

As if on cue, the door to the inn opened and Ginji walked in. He was carrying a small bag with him. "Hey guys. I'm ready to go. Tamara is going to look after Noelle while I'm gone until her leg heals."

"That's good to hear," Tear said. "She's okay then?"

"Yes. Noelle will be fine. And the men who attacked her are going to be taken to Daath. Turns out they Oracle Knights after all, so the guard is going to make sure Daath sees to making sure that doesn't happen again."

"I'm sorry that the Order caused this city problems, Ginji."

"It's no problem, Fon Master. Your friends stopped it; we have no issues with the Order as long as the criminals are punished."

"They will be," Ion assured their pilot.

"Shouldn't we be going then since Ginji is ready?" Luke asked.

Ginji noticed at that time that there were two more in the group than there had been earlier and flushed a bit at how rude he had been, "I'm so sorry, I forgot to introduce myself when there are two of you I had not met." He extended his hand to Luke, "I'm Ginji, pilot for the Albiore."

"Nice to meet you, Ginji. Thanks for doing this for us. I'm Luke. And this is my wife, Natalia." He said while motioning to Natalia.

The silver haired boy hid his confusion well. He knew Luke wasn't mentioning something. He may not have been outside Sheridan before, but he knew that the only people who had red hair like that were of royal blood. Oh well, if they wanted to hide their identities, he wouldn't be the one to reveal it. They must have their reasons. In fact, he thought better of the whole group for the fact that they hadn't used their obvious connections to Kimlascan royalty to accomplish what they needed. Though he had to wonder what a member of the royal family was doing traveling with a member of the Malkuth military. There had to be a story behind this, and it would likely be very interesting.

He was finally able to answer, "It's a pleasure to meet you two also. I'll get all of you safely to St. Binah and wherever else you need to go afterwards. Anyway, shouldn't we be going? If everything goes well, we should arrive to St, Binah before sunrise."

-----

They made wonderful time to St. Binah aboard the Albiore. It didn't even take them one third of the time it would have taken aboard the Tartarus to make it back; flying definitely had its advantages. It would prove to be useful in the future.

"Look!" Natalia pointed from the window. "We aren't too late! The land is still there!"

"That's wonderful! I hope we have the time to get the rest out." Luke hoped.

"We'll worry about that if the time comes. Let's concentrate on getting the citizens out first." Tear suggested.

Ginji landed the Albiore as close to the city as he possibly could on the falling land. They all ran as fast as they could the short distance into the city itself and quickly found the elder McGovern.

"Field Marshal, are the residents ready to depart? We have a way to fly them out." Jade told the man.

"A flying ship you say? Splendid! Start getting everyone aboard it then."

"Yes, sir!" Luke exclaimed.

Everyone worked for a time helping all the remaining citizens aboard the Albiore. Once everyone was on board and they were about to take off, the ground started to shake again.

"Ginji! Take off, now!" Jade exclaimed.

Ginji did as Jade asked without question. They were barely in time, the land started falling quickly just as they had taken off. The downward momentum of the land caused such a push of wind that it brought the Albiore II down with it. Ginji's wonderful piloting skills were all that saved them from crashing, but they found themselves within the Qliphoth again.

"Phew." Luke declared. "That was close!"

"It sure was!" Anise mentioned. "Even a second later and we may not have made it."

"Now, what about the land itself, Tear? What's going to happen?" Luke asked her.

"The Qliphoth is a bottomless sea of mud and miasma. Without the Sephiroth to hold the land up, it will slowly sink into the Qliphoth, just like Akzeriuth and Hod did."

"No!" Natalia declared. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"Let's take the residents to Yulia City for now. They can rest there and we can ask the mayor about it. He may not have been very forthcoming before, but now that the Score is definitely off course, if he can provide any assistance, he will." Jade suggested.

"Yes. Grandfather definitely will help now. I just hope he can help."

They flew the long distance from St. Binah to Yulia City. It wasn't nearly as long as the trip was when Akzeriuth fell, thanks to the Albiore.

"You know, the Qliphoth looks even creepier from the air," Anise noticed.

"It sure does." Luke mentioned. "Though, I only really saw it from Kiran's mind. I'm kind of glad I wasn't awake for the first time, this isn't a nice place at all."

"Oh yeah, you didn't get to see Yulia City then!" Anise remembered. "It's so cool!"

"Anise, he saw it through Kiran's eyes. He likely knows just as much as anyone else here does, except perhaps Natalia. She hasn't seen this yet." Tear reminded the girl.

Natalia was in shock seeing the utter horror of the purplish smoky sky filled with miasma and the endless sea of mud and miasma that made up the Qliphoth. "This is horrible!" she declared.

"Yes. That is why Yulia helped make the Outer Lands all those years ago in the Dawn Age. The land would have definitely perished if she hadn't." Tear explained.

"And to think, we lived above this all this time and didn't even know it! Amazing!" Natalia declared, astonished and appalled at the sight at the same time.

"Isn't it? But I think I was better off not knowing," Luke mentioned.

"I don't blame you one bit for thinking that." Tear told him. "It's kept secret for that very reason. Most people wouldn't be able to handle the knowledge that they live floating up in the air."

"But if more land falls, they'll find out eventually, won't they?" Anise asked.

"Not necessarily. Hod fell all those years ago and people lived on without knowing. They just know the land disappeared, but not where to. For all they knew, the land was just utterly destroyed somehow."

"Amazing what lengths we go to just to keep people in ignorance. It is a shame that has to happen." Luke mentioned.

"Well, at this point, there is nothing we can do, except prevent this from happening again. That and see if we can save St. Binah. That is the important thing." Tear mentioned.

"Yes. Indeed," Natalia agreed.

They arrived in Yulia City shortly after. The residents of St. Binah exited the Albiore along with the rest of the group. They went ahead to go speak with the mayor about whether or not if the residents could stay on a more long term basis. Yulia City seemed to have very few resources, but they did hope that the city could take at least some of the residents for the time being, rather than having to find another place for them to go.

It wasn't hard to find Teodoro, he was actually waiting for them before they even entered the main building.

"I've been waiting for all of you. Please, come inside, we have much to discuss."

They walked inside and everyone sat down in the conference room. The St. Binah residents didn't join them, opting to find a place to rest. The residents of Yulia City helped them out and had food ready for them. It was as if they knew this was happening.

"So, you want to know how to save St. Binah, right?"

"Yes, Grandfather. Is there any way we can prevent the land from sinking?"

"I admit, it will be quite difficult. Had we the Key of Lorelei, it would be no problem. But since the Key was cast into the core by Yulia all those years past after making the pact with Lorelei."

"What do we need to do?" Luke asked.

"While we can't raise the land again, we could raise the Sephiroth again to make sure the land doesn't sink. It would require visiting the passage ring and someone would have to work them."

"Who is needed to work the passage rings?" Natalia asked.

"A Seventh Fonist, right?" Tear answered for him.

"Correct, Tear. A Seventh Fonist would be the only one capable of working the passage rings. That is saying nothing else has been done to prevent their use."

"Van… could he have done something that could prevent our using them?" Luke asked.

"I do not know. All I can say is that it is possible. You may not be able to save the land."

"But we have to try! We can't let the land sink like Akzeriuth did!" Luke declared.

"That's a relief." Tear mentioned. "Thank you, grandfather."

"Do any of you have any questions?"

"No. I think we have an idea of what we must do next. I just hope we can do it." Luke said.

"We don't have much time, either." Tear mentioned. "Grandfather, the Sephiroth that holds St. Binah is the one at Shurrey Hill, right?"

"Yes. It is." Teodoro responded.

"Then we should be going. Hopefully Ginji is up to another flight so soon." Tear told them.

"He can at least rest while we're in the Sephiroth. We have been without much rest for quite some time now," Jade mentioned.

"Because someone insisted that he could go without rest for the trip to Sheridan!" Anise pointed out, to which Jade just shrugged.

"Then we had better get going. We have little time as it is," Luke suggested.

-----

Ginji was indeed up for a flight right away, seeing as he was probably the most well rested of all of them. They made their flight to Shurrey Hill finding the closest landing site possible to the place, something that the condition of the land made rather difficult. The land had broken in many places, and the area around Shurrey Hill had many trees, which the Albiore could not land upon.

"This is awful!" Luke declared. "Even if we save the land, the land will never be the same!"

"It's better in this condition than not existing at all." Tear pointed out. "Let's get going, or there will be no land left to save."

"That and we don't want to be stuck in there if the land does sink despite our efforts." Jade pointed out.

"Tear, how much time do we have?" Luke asked.

"Perhaps hours at most. I don't know for sure, since I wasn't alive when Hod fell. I only know of bit from Van's explanations. We were unconscious for most of the time when Akzeriuth fell, but that was different." Tear told him.

"Then we had better get going. Who knows how big this place is, and what we'll have to do to even get to the passage ring, much less work it," Luke suggested.

"You're right," Ion agreed. "The passage rings are very well protected. Though the Daathic seal and Albertesque seals are gone, the Yulian seal still remains and we have no idea how to break that yet. Let's hope we can find a way."

They walked to where Ion said the entrance to Shurrey Hill was, but found only a rock wall, no door at all. "Ion, where's the entrance?" Luke asked.

"I remember that to reveal the entrance, we had to use the Fifth Fonon. Legretta was the one who opened it. I don't recall Van closing the entrance again. That must have been done later."

"Why would he do that?" Tear wondered.

"To hide the fact that he was here?" Anise suggested.

"But why?" Jade asked. "Ion knows the door was opened."

"To make it more difficult to someone else to enter perhaps?" Luke suggested as a possibility.

"That would be possible," Jade allowed. "Whatever the case may be, we can't enter unless we open it up again. Ion says the Fifth Fonon worked before, so it should work again."

"Jade would probably be too destructive if we had him use a fonic arte. I wonder if Mieu's fire would be enough to reveal it?" Luke questioned.

"It should be. Have him use his fire on the red stones. I recall there being three in total. Those opened the door to the seal." Ion mentioned.

They walked around to find the three stones Ion spoke of. They weren't hard to find, and Mieu's fire worked like a charm. Each time Mieu breathed fire on one, they disappeared. Once they found all three of them, they went back to the entrance and now could see a door that had already been opened.

"Is this it then, Ion?" Luke asked.

"Yes. Let's go inside."

The inside of Shurrey Hill was much like Akzeriuth with the glowing glyphs and Dawn Age technology all over the place. It did have differences from Akzeriuth, though. Many of the floors were transparent and they were more of a purplish color, rather than the brown that Akzeriuth's Sephiroth had been. They followed a straight path that led them to the passage ring in front of which they saw a strange device.

"Ion, do you know what this thing is?" Luke asked, motioning towards the pedestal like object in front of them.

"If I were to hazard a guess that would be what you use to work the passage ring." Ion answered.

"Hmm, but it doesn't seem to be operational." Jade mentioned. "I wonder if this has to do with the seal Teodoro mentioned. Or is it something Van left for us to deal with?"

"Look up there!" Anise pointed towards the top of the ring. "What's that thing?"

Everyone looked up towards where she pointed to see a large golden object. "Hmm, that must be the seal Teodoro spoke of. It seems it must still stand." Ion replied. "But then how could Van have done something if the Yulian Seal still stands?"

"Could he have found a way to replace the seal then? Or did he place his own seal on this place, perhaps?" Jade said.

"Then we have to find a way to break it, right?" Anise asked.

"It appears to be so. We can't get the device to work as it stands at this moment." Tear answered. "But how?"

"Let's look around. There is bound to be a way, we just have to find it." Luke suggested.

They looked around and it seemed that whether it was the seal itself, or a trap laid by Van, the seal was not hard to break. It merely involved the solving of yet another puzzle.

"I wonder if that was our seal breaking." Jade asked. "Though if that was the Yulian seal, it was almost too easy."

"Only one way to find out. Let's go check it out." Luke suggested.

They returned to the passage ring to find the strange golden object near the top of the passage ring had disappeared. "It's gone!" Anise exclaimed. "Now we just have to figure out how to work this thing."

Tear walked up to the pedestal device but continued past it to get a closer look at the ring itself. "Wait, Tear. Walk closer to that device again." Jade suggested.

"What?" Tear question, but she did as requested and walked up to the pedestal device. The top of it opened as if it were a book to be read. She kept standing there and it remained open. Jade walked up beside her to look it over. "Hmm, this must indeed be the controls. It seems to explain how to work the passage ring, but something doesn't seem right here.

"Jade, look above!" Anise pointed.

Everyone looked above them, they could see a bunch of circles, three of which had red rings around them and were brighter than the others. The rest were blank and appeared darker. "Could that be the control panel?" Luke asked.

"It must be." Jade responded. "Those red rings don't look good at all. They appear to be some sort of code inserted to prevent our usage of the device itself. That has to be why the device itself was making little sense. Van definitely has outdone himself, the valve can no longer be opened to raise the Sephiroth."

"But how do we get rid of it? Can't we erase the red stuff somehow?"

"Luke, do you think you could use your hyperresonance in a way that would only erase the red rings?" Jade asked the young boy.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure. I could try."

"We would need you to only use it on the red part, the code that Van inserted. The rest has to remain untouched. If you aren't sure if you can control it that well, we will have to find another solution. We can't risk doing any further harm to them."

"I-I'm not that sure I can do it."

"But, Luke, I thought you were able to control your hyperresonance well?" Natalia asked him. "You never had any problems with it in the past."

"That was the past. Of late it has been acting more out of control. There was the time when Tear and I were blown to Tataroo Valley, then the first time Dist attacked, then Akzeriuth. I really don't know if I can control it anymore. This doesn't seem to be the place to be trying that out, does it?"

"But Luke, you should do fine. Those were extraordinary circumstances that even if any of us had your ability, we may well have lost control. Please, Luke. You should at least try." Tear pleaded with him. "You are the only one of us who can do this. We don't have much time."

"Luke, please," Natalia pleaded further. "I know you can do it.

"Fine. I'll do it. What do I need to do Jade?"

"Use your hyperresonance to erase just the red lines around the circles. You see up there?" Jade pointed up at the panel towards a particular red circle. "That is the third Sephiroth, Shurrey Hill. We need to erase that circle and nothing else."

"All right." Luke agreed. He concentrated as hard as he could on gathering Seventh Fonons. It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be; there were so many floating up from the Sephiroth. He lifted his hands to help him focus on his target. Then he slowly worked on removing the red circle as Jade instructed.

He slowly worked on removing the circle. His arms were getting very tired and he only had about half of the circle removed. He didn't know if he would be able to last long enough to remove it all around the circle they needed to remove it from.

"Luke, are you all right?" Natalia asked. "Do you need to stop?"

"No! I can do this!" he stubbornly declared.

He continued and after what seemed like an eternity to him, the circle finally was gone. Luke's arms dropped and his breathing was fast. He was very tired just from that much, and Jade hadn't said that was all that needed to be done. Could he do it?

"Luke, are you okay? Do you need to rest?" Natalia asked.

"No. I'm fine. I can do this. Jade, what else needs to be done?" Luke asked.

Jade looked towards the passage ring itself, which caused everyone else to look. They noticed the number of memory particles floating upwards had increased greatly. "That seems to be it. The Sephiroth has begun releasing memory particles to raise the land."

"But what about the other red circle?" the redhead asked him.

"We can worry about that later." Jade answered. He wasn't going to put the boy through more, he didn't look too good as it was. The rest could wait until a later time, since that seemed to be the Zao Ruins, and the area was not yet sinking as far as they were aware. That did make him wonder, could they actually stop another area from sinking from here? That would definitely have to be a theory to try out at a time when Luke wasn't completely exhausted.

"Then we did it? St. Binah won't sink?" Tear asked.

"No it won't." Jade told her. "But it won't be rising back to the Outer Lands either."

"Thank goodness! Luke, you did it!" Natalia hugged her husband. "You saved the land!"

"Um, guys, we shouldn't be celebrating just yet. Look up there." Anise pointed upwards.

"No! This Sephiroth supports the entire Engeve area too!" Luke exclaimed.

"And since we weren't able to fully restore the Sephiroth, it is only a matter of time before Engeve joins St. Binah in the Qliphoth. But at least now it won't sink." Jade explained.

"But we must evacuate the residents first! The fall could kill many, even if the land doesn't sink!" Natalia exclaimed. "We have to get back to the Outer Lands!"

Tear walked away from the pedestal device. She was looking a bit shaky and walking slower than her usual.

Jade walked over to her and gently placed his arm around her waist to steady her. At this point, he didn't care what anyone else thought of it, even Tear herself, she looked about to fall over. Thankfully, whatever had come over her seemed to prevent her from being able to become nervous from his touch like she had before.

"Tear, are you okay?" Anise asked, concerned enough to not even tease her about Jade's attention towards her.

"I-I'm fine. Just a bit tired, that's all." Tear answered. "We need to get going. I can get some rest on the Albiore on the way to Engeve."

"That is probably a good idea. We all could use some rest," Luke agreed.

Assured that Tear would be okay until then, the Malkuth Colonel looked towards Luke "What about you, Luke? Are you okay after using your power like that?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit tired, but it's not a big deal. I can wait until we get back to the Albiore to get some rest."

"Are you sure, Luke?" Tear asked him, her voice sounding a bit shaky still. "You lost consciousness the other times."

"That was different. I didn't have control over it those times. This time I did." Luke answered and started walking towards the exit.

He only was able to take a few steps before he could no longer stand anymore. He must have overestimated his ability to go on, or underestimated the toll the hyperresonance would take on him in his current state. He dropped to his knees which sent Natalia running towards him. She just barely made it in time before he lost consciousness completely and fell into her arms.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!  



	31. Concerns and Conundrums

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

And I apologize greatly for how long this took. I swear, this chapter hated me with a passion. Also, some minor edits have been made since the original update. I definitely won't be doing edits at 4am ever again.

* * *

The trip to Engeve was going to be a long one, since they had to go across a large amount of the Qliphoth just to get to where they could go to the Outer Lands, and then head all the way back to Engeve. They figured it would take a day, if not longer. Ginji may have shown to be a wonderful pilot, but even he needed some rest, despite his claims otherwise that he should be fine piloting the ship for a day.

Everyone was worried about Luke. He still hadn't shown any signs of waking the whole way to the Albiore. Jade had been forced to carry the redhead on his back, even though he tried his best to get out of it like he always did. They didn't have the time to be waiting for him to wake up on his own; if he even did wake up before they arrived to Engeve.

Luke was taken to one of the six small cabins for passengers aboard the Albiore. Natalia, who was accompanied by a very worried Mieu, joined him. The others were shooed away and told to get some rest, especially Tear.

"Is Luke going to be all right?" Natalia asked Jade.

"Though I prefer not to say unless I'm sure, he should be fine. He recovered quickly each time except for Akzeriuth," Jade told her.

"But what if this is like Akzeriuth?"

"It isn't."

"How do you know?"

"This time he didn't almost die on us. Anise and I found him as he fell unconscious. He wasn't breathing at all, he was very near death then. This time he was merely unconscious. That is how I know this is different."

Natalia shuddered at the matter of fact way he put what had happened. She had only heard the story from Luke's point of view, not from theirs. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"You weren't there, and Luke wasn't exactly conscious to be able to explain it. Now, I can work best without anyone disturbing me, and you won't do him any good if you end up fainting from exhaustion as well," Jade told her in an attempt to get her out of the room. Her excessive worrying was getting in the way.

"All right. I'll trust you. All of you brought Luke back to me when I thought he was dead, the least I can do is trust that you will take good care of him now."

She left the room, which caused him to breathe a sigh of relief that he was able to finally convince her. He was definitely concerned that Luke had perfect control of his hyperresonance and still ended up fainting afterwards. Either he still hadn't fully returned to his normal self, or something more was wrong.

It was the possibility of this being something else, and not simply the fact Luke had not fully recovered from Akzeriuth, that concerned him the most. It was doubtful that anyone could predict what a hyperresonance like the one that had enveloped Luke at Akzeriuth could do to him. Too little was even known about hyperresonance, since it was such a rare occurrence. And on top of that, Luke was quite unique, with his replica being the only other one who shared this ability.

One thing he knew for a fact, the first chance they got, Luke and Tear both were going to see a doctor. They lacked the equipment here to do any tests that would be needed to gauge if Luke had done any further harm to himself, and healers could only deal with basic injuries. And no matter what Tear said, someone in perfect health would not nearly collapse like she did.

That didn't mean he couldn't do at least a few tests on Luke. He usually carried a few tools with him, mostly for the sake of experimentation. He could at least check Luke's blood fonon level among a few other things.

He really hoped the redhead didn't mind needles. Oh well, he probably wouldn't notice it besides that his arm would be rather tender for a time. Of course, that was if he didn't wake up in the next few minutes.

He took out the small kit that he had and quickly found what would be needed. He placed a new needle into one of the syringes he carried. Then he rolled back Luke's left sleeve and was about to take a sample when he saw the boy's eyes open suddenly.

"Ah, Luke. Glad you have rejoined us at last. Your wife was quite worried," Jade told him.

"Where are we now? Last I remember, I was in the passage ring."

"You really shouldn't lie about your health. You said you were fine, and then fell unconscious soon afterwards."

"Sorry, Jade. I really thought I could make it out, and then suddenly everything went black." Luke looked around trying to get an idea of where they might be, since Jade still hadn't answered that.

"We're on the Albiore on the way to Engeve. By the way, Luke, do you mind needles?"

"No, not usually, why?" The moment he answered he felt a sharp jab in his left arm as the needle Jade had been holding went into his skin. "Damn it, Jade! What was that for?"

"I would like to run a few tests, and since you woke up before I could get a sample…"

"Could you warn me next time?"

"I thought I did. Oh well."

Luke shook his head with disbelief, and then couldn't help but smile even though his arm hurt. Well, at least the Colonel was in good spirits despite all that happened. "You also could have been a bit more gentle, damn that hurts."

"Oh, I forgot to mention, I specialized in autopsies, not with living humans."

"And that somehow doesn't make me feel any better."

"You shouldn't lift anything with that arm for a few days. I'll be back shortly with results," the Malkuth Colonel said as he turned to leave the room.

"And how do you expect me to use my sword if we get attacked?"

"You typically use your right arm to wield your sword, Luke. Anyway, I'll be back shortly. I also want to check on Tear. I shouldn't have to ask, but you will remain in bed, correct? Or shall I go wake your wife?"

"I'll stay here. You don't need to wake Natalia."

Jade couldn't help but smirk. There was definitely some benefit to her overprotective nature. He would have to remember that for future reference. He walked outside the room and to Tear's room.

--

Tear had just finished putting on her nightgown when she heard a knock on the door to the cabin she had been given. She had no idea who it could be. Jade and Natalia had gone to see to Luke. Ion and Anise didn't need to be told to rest, they had gone to their own cabins right away. Ginji was obviously flying the ship, so who could it be?

Well, there was only one way to find out. Opening the door just wide enough to peek out, Tear was surprised to see the Colonel standing there. "Jade, I thought you were with Luke. Did something happen?"

"Oh, he's fine. Complaining a bit, but otherwise fine."

"Complaining? Then he's awake?"

"He is. But I didn't come here to tell you that. May I come in?"

"O-of course! I'm sorry!" She stammered as she opened the door to let him in.

Once he entered, he could see quite clearly her state of undress. Though she was fully covered by the nightgown she wore, its thin material left little to the imagination.

Tear could feel his gaze on her and remembered that she should have put on a robe before answering the door, especially without knowing who it was. If it had been the Fon Master, he would be been most uncomfortable. She was about to grab her robe and put it on when she felt a hand around her arm. "Don't worry about it. I won't be here long. I just wanted to check on you before you went to sleep."

She felt her face flush. It was indeed quite uncomfortable to be with him like this. No, not uncomfortable, she was just nervous. She felt exposed like this. She didn't know what he was thinking, and having those crimson eyes on her wasn't helping.

"Are you all right, Tear?"

"I should lie down, that's all."

"Don't let me stop you."

She walked over to the small bed that each of the cabins had been equipped with, pulled back the covers and climbed in. He bent down beside her as she pulled the covers over herself. It made her feel better to be covered a bit while he was looking at her like that. "Are you okay after carrying Luke all the way back here?"

"I can handle it." Jade placed the back of his hand on her forehead. He wanted to make sure there wasn't something else causing her tired state, and a fever could be a possible explanation. She did feel a bit warm, but he couldn't tell if it was because of her obvious nervousness or if it was really a fever. Even if it was a fever, it wasn't enough to be too concerned about. Some rest should be enough to get rid of it, regardless of what it was. He removed his hand from her forehead after brushing her hair off it.

"I almost forgot, thank you for taking care of us. It's very kind of you."

"I told you before. I won't let anything happen to you. Will you promise me to see a doctor once we can stop for a time?"

"But I'm fine. You should be more concerned about Luke. I'll be okay once I get some rest."

"You are as much my concern as Luke is. It's not normal for you to let yourself get that tired."

"I wasn't taking good care of myself. I'm a poor soldier indeed."

"Tear, even the best soldiers can fall ill. Seeing a doctor when there is a concern is a part of taking care of yourself."

"Of course. But there is no need for any concern about me."

Jade sighed. She was definitely going to be stubborn about this. He had a bad feeling that she was wrong and wanted a more professional confirmation on the matter of her health. Perhaps he could work out a compromise with the stubborn melodist. They wouldn't be able to stop long in Engeve. The next chance they would have to stop would be wherever they evacuated the citizens to. He could keep a close eye on her during the next few days and bring up the matter again if there was reason. If there wasn't, he was sure he could get Anise and Ion to play along and have themselves looked at just so she would. With everything everyone had been through, it wouldn't hurt for the Fon Master to have a checkup while they were at it.. Perhaps when they were able to go to Daath to remove Kiran's curse slot would be a good time.

"If you insist, then I'll drop the matter for now. But you must promise me to get plenty of rest before we reach Engeve."

"I will."

"Good. Then I will leave. Rest well."

"Thank you. You should get some rest too."

"Once I have finished with Luke, I will. You need not worry about me."

"I can't help it. You take such good care of all of us, but no one takes care of you."

"I assure you, I can take care of myself just fine." He noticed that her hair had stubbornly found its way back to her forehead and he brushed it away again. This time, however, he couldn't resist giving her a gentle, but teasing kiss to her forehead.

"Jade…"

"We will need to talk more at a later date. Now isn't the time."

"But what…?"

"Rest well, Tear."

Before she could say anything more, he had left the room. She was very confused about his sudden show of affection. It was completely unlike him. Though it was innocent and even somewhat teasing, especially with his lack of explanation and sudden departure, it was still confusing. Why did he have to be so cryptic all the time? Couldn't he just come out and say what he wanted to say?

But she couldn't say she didn't like it. She liked the touch of his lips to her skin, very much in fact. But at the same time, the feelings stirred up by that one simple action of his confused her. It left her imagining what they would feel like touching her own lips in the sweetness of a real kiss, not a kiss like her brother would give her when she was younger.

But at the same time, the feelings stirred up by that one simple action of his confused her.

--

Jade frowned as he looked over the sample he had gotten earlier. He couldn't be seeing something like this, it just wasn't right at all. Though he had to admit, some of it explained a lot.

What amazed him the most was the result that he got for Luke's fonon frequency. That was a simple matter, and he had been curious about it, just to see if some thoughts he had were correct.

It was a shame so little was known about hyperresonance. If more had been studied on it, the answers he was looking for would be easier to find. All that had been found out so far was that it typically required two Seventh Fonists under special circumstances to create one. The problem was what the special circumstances were exactly had yet to be found.

Considering this newfound information about Luke, he wondered if Luke's fonon frequency being an exact match to the Seventh fonon played a role. If there was a need for the Seventh Fonists frequencies to add up to that of the Seventh Fonon, it made sense that they were rare. Perhaps asking Luke how he used his ability could better answer that question. After all, he could control to a rather large degree.

It was when he lost control that there was a cause for concern, though at Shurrey hill it was unusual from what he had observed of the redhead in the past. But then that brought another thing to mind. It was indeed quite strange just how many Seventh Fonons were mixed in with Luke's blood fonons. A Seventh Fonist typically would have some, but not as many as Luke had. Then there were some other elements that he couldn't even identify at least not with the lack of proper testing equipment. It was amazing that Luke even had a normal blood fonon level.

He would definitely have to ask Luke more about how he went about creating a hyperresonance. With the level of control the redhead had shown, he must have some method behind it. But one thing was for sure; Luke shouldn't be using his hyperresonance any more than absolutely necessary until they figured out the cause for his weakness afterwards. Since it continued to happen even with Luke having control, there was something else causing it. He had his theories, but none were very definite until he could get more information.

Now he merely had to give his patient the news and make sure no further harm was done. With how stubborn Luke could be, this would very difficult, but not impossible. Like Tear, a deal would have to be worked out so it appeared as if he was giving up and letting the redhead have his way, when he wasn't.

With as stubborn as Luke was, it was really no surprise to find him wide awake, although he was still in bed. A minor victory, but a victory none the less.

"So what did you find out, Jade?"

He pushed his glasses upwards. "Nothing conclusive, unfortunately. However, it would be best if you tried to not overexert yourself until we can get more conclusive results."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we have a choice here. At the next opportunity we can return you and Natalia to Baticul until you are fully recovered."

"Is that really an option? I highly doubt Mohs is leaving Uncle alone right now, and if the Order wants me, Uncle has to know about it."

"Do you think the King would give his heir up to the Order then?"

"I don't like to think about that, but if the Score says he should, he has no choice."

"That is true."

"And Natalia told me he knew that I was to die in Akzeriuth, and I was still sent. So as much as I would like to at least go home and see my daughter, it would probably be safer if I remained with the rest of you."

"Then you've made up your mind to stay with us even though it may very well be hindering your recovery?"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"There doesn't seem to be. However, we can't have you hindering us while we accomplish what needs to be done. So how about a compromise?"

"Depends on what you suggest."

"It's very simple. If your wife agrees, she will be responsible for making sure you need not exert yourself any more than absolutely necessary. You may defend yourself, but under no circumstances are you to use your hyperresonance without my approval."

"And if Natalia doesn't agree?"

"Then we find someplace where you can safely stay until you recover and we will make a stop in Daath for Kiran if we need to do anything further with the passage rings."

"Good luck getting him out of there."

"Finding a place for you to stay will be more difficult. But if it comes to that, I do have some thoughts on where you could stay. I hope you don't mind the cold."

Luke frowned. He never really did like the winter. "Let's ask Natalia before we discuss that."

"Agreed. But I have your word that if your wife agrees you will hold to your end of this?"

"Of course. I want to help you guys out. Even if I could return to Baticul, I'd probably just leave again, because I know you need me to protect the world from whatever Van wants to do to it."

"Which means if we do have to leave you somewhere safe, I will ensure you are unable to leave."

"Somehow, I knew you would say something like that. Hopefully it won't come to that. But if you can't talk her into it, what will you do if you need to use more passage rings?"

"Our next stop was going to be Daath. Between all of us and Ion, we should find a way to get Kiran away from Van."

"He tells me he isn't as good with using hyperresonance."

"But he should be able to use it, correct?"

Luke nodded. "He can. Though I have yet to see him use it, he could control mine. I doubt he could do that if he had no ability at all."

"By the way, Luke, how do you use your ability? What makes you think Kiran couldn't control your hyperresonance if he had no ability to use it?"

"I have to draw in Seventh Fonons to use it. Without knowing that, he wouldn't have been able to make it work. That and he would have to know how to use the Seventh Fonons correctly."

"But the curse slot itself doesn't require that sort of knowledge from what Ion said."

"That ability we share doesn't work the same. For me to be able to control him, I have to be able to imagine what I want him to do. So I have to have some knowledge of what it is I want him to do."

"That's good to know. Except that it seems since both of you share many abilities, it doesn't help much if either of you wishes harm to the other."

"That won't happen."

"Are you so sure? He is with Van now. Van strikes me as being very persuasive and charismatic. The longer he remains in Daath, the more likely it is that his feelings could change."

"I still doubt he will harm me."

"You may know him better than I, but don't underestimate Van's ability to sway him, or even his own feelings."

"Don't worry, Jade. I won't."

"Good. Now I need to rest my old bones. I can trust that you won't go wandering around if you aren't tired like the rest of us?"

"I won't. I probably could use some more sleep anyhow. Rest well, Jade."

"I plan to. I'll check on your condition before we arrive to Engeve."

--

Natalia hesitantly approached the small cabin she knew belonged to the Malkuth Colonel. She hated interrupting the much needed rest he was probably getting, but she needed to know how Luke was.

Her steps slowed the closer she got to his door. She had to admit, she was a bit nervous about approaching the Colonel. The major thing causing her hesitate was the fact that she was scared that it wasn't just something simple wrong with him and she would receive bad news. Then there was the fact that if she were completely honest, the Malkuth Colonel was a frightening man.

She lightly tapped on his door, in hopes that he would respond. If he didn't, she would try later. She wasn't about to awaken the infamous Necromancer when she barely knew him. The door opened right away, so quickly that she was startled.

"Ah, Princess. I had a need to have a word with you. If I may have a moment to finish getting ready perhaps?"

"O-oh, yes, of course." she stammered in response. She could see that smirk of his quickly come to his face. Knowing what she did of him, he probably found this most amusing. He then turned and closed the door. Less than a minute later, he came back out.

"I thought you would appreciate if we find somewhere else to speak. A married woman such as yourself shouldn't be seen going into my room alone."

"Of course not. Thank you for thinking of me."

They walked over to the end of the hallway that led more to a small area used for storage of cargo it appeared. It was mostly empty at this time except for some tools. Jade kept the door open behind them out of decency for the Princess. She was already nervous enough; he didn't need to be giving her one more thing to worry about.

She spoke first, "What did you wish to speak with me about? Is Luke going to be all right?"

"He woke up while I was finishing up some tests. As far as I could tell, he didn't do any further harm to himself."

She sighed in relief. "That's wonderful to hear."

"Princess, you are aware that while he may not have harmed himself, his use of his hyperresonance may very well have hindered his recovery. There was very little I could do with what few tools I had on hand and the fact that my own knowledge of medicine is more reserved to giving autopsies."

His mention of autopsies did not ease her fears one bit. "Why are you telling me this? Are you trying to scare me?"

"No. I merely want you to understand the situation we have here. You know your husband well and I imagine you can understand much without my explaining it fully."

"Yes. He's stubborn and I doubt even I could convince him to go home if that is what you are going to ask of me."

"Actually, I wasn't. Based on what we know, we may very well need him again and soon. I would rather risk going to Daath for his replica than endanger him further. However, we may have very little time before the lands held up by the Zao Ruins also fall."

"But why talk to me about it? Shouldn't Luke make the decision?"

"You and I both know that even if we had the time to make a stop in Baticul, it is a bad idea. For one, the Order could very well be in the city right now, and you know what that means." She nodded her response to that statement and let him continue speaking. "And also, Luke himself has said that even if we took him back, he would merely find us again."

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."

"I do actually agree with him. Even with his health being the way it is, he's safer if he remains with us. However, I would prefer that he not exert himself any more than possible until he can see an actual doctor. That is where you come in."

"I think I see now."

"I'm glad you do. I don't want Luke getting hurt, but we can't afford to have him hinder us at this time. Until he can be seen by a doctor, I have asked him to refrain from doing more than defending himself."

"And what about his hyperresonance?"

"He agreed to only use it when given permission."

"He must be worried; those are two amazing concessions from him."

Jade shrugged. "He didn't really have a choice. The only other option is to have him stay with Ginji."

"But he would definitely be safer with us."

"Now, to gain this compromise, I need something from you, Princess."

"What would that be?"

"It should be simple enough. Just make sure he doesn't have to fight any more than absolutely necessary."

"So, I am to act as his bodyguard then?"

"If you want to put it that way."

"I agree. If only so that he won't end up doing something to hurt himself. By the way, how is Tear?"

"She just needed some rest."

"You're worried about her too, aren't you?"

"Merely concern for her as one under my protection."

Natalia smiled. His behavior when she almost fainted wasn't just that. She didn't miss the fact that he must have looked in on the melodist before checking on Luke's condition. She had to admit, for how frightening this man was supposed to be, he was also surprisingly gentle and protective of all of them, but especially Tear. "Well, I am glad to hear she's okay. Is it all right if I go check on Luke now?"

"That is fine. He should still be awake. Be sure to be ready to go when we arrive in Engeve in a few hours."

"I will. Thank you for your care of him."

He shrugged. "I can't have him dying on us. I don't much care for the idea of being a criminal in Kimlasca."

She doubted that was his only motivation. It may be one motivation, but she knew that selfish motivations did not tend to lead to care like what she had seen so far. At least she could be assured that he wouldn't allow anything to happen to Luke, at least not intentionally. His other reasons did not matter as long as she knew that.

But she wasn't going say anything. His actions spoke louder than words, and she was just glad that Luke was all right.

--

Since she knew there were still hours left before they would arrive to Engeve, Natalia took advantage of that time to look in on Luke. She wanted to talk to him in private anyhow, since they needed to discuss some things. Namely why he felt it would be unsafe for him to go home.

He was lying on the bed with his eyes closed and appeared to be asleep. The room itself was cramped with the bed and a chair that had been left near Luke's bed – that had to be Jade's doing. She sat down in that chair and watched her husband sleep.

She didn't have to wait very long before he spoke to her, "I'm not asleep, Natalia. You can go ahead and scold me all you want."

"I wasn't planning to scold you. I'm more upset at myself for the fact that I helped convince you. If I scold you, then I need to scold myself too."

He opened his eyes and moved so he could look at her, "I could do that for you, but it's just as much my fault for allowing you to talk me into it."

"What happened, Luke? I remember when you were a child you used to cause a hyperresonance, usually by accident, since it took some time before you could control it. Your mother or father would always scold you afterwards and say you should be more careful. But it never caused a reaction like this."

"I know, and it scares me."

"It does? But why would it?"

"What if this means there is something more wrong with me than I tried to do too much too quickly?"

"Why would you even think that?"

"Forget I even mentioned it, ok?"

"No, Luke. If you're scared, you should talk about it."

"Until I know for sure, I'm just thinking of the worst, that's all. It's not a big deal right now."

" Please, don't keep this inside. What thoughts are bothering you so much that you would be scared? That's not like you at all."

"I just had too much time to think about things. It's probably nothing. Using hyperresonance before Akzeriuth was doing the same thing to me; I just thought it was because I was losing control. I didn't lose control in Shurrey Hill, but it still happened. Do you blame me for worrying a bit?"

"Luke…"

"I know, it's stupid to worry like this. I can't do anything until I know for sure if there is something wrong with me. We'll just have to wait until I can be examined by an actual doctor, not that I don't appreciate Jade's care in the meantime.

They heard a hesitant knock on the door. "May I come in?" They heard Tear asking on the other side of the door. "I don't want to interrupt a private discussion…"

"Tear, you can come in. We were just finishing up our talk." Luke said to her.

The door opened and Tear came in. "I'm sorry to intrude. I just wanted to see how Luke was doing…and perhaps ask both of you about something."

"I'm fine now. How are you feeling?"

"I was just tired, that's all. It's nothing to be concerned about," Tear answered Luke.

Natalia stood up. "Here, why don't you sit down in this chair while we talk? I can sit on the bed with Luke." She sat down on the bed beside Luke in what little space was still available before Tear could even protest.

Tear sat down. "I'm glad you recovered quickly like the other times, Luke. It's a relief. I'm sorry I pushed you towards using your hyperresonance."

"Don't worry about it. Like I told Natalia, I'm just as much to blame for agreeing to help. So what do you want to ask about?"

Tear's face turned a slight shade of pink. "Um, well, I wanted to ask both of you about something."

Natalia smiled. She had an idea of where this might lead considering the pinkish hue of Tear's face and the Colonel's reactions earlier. "Might it have something to do with a certain Malkuth Colonel traveling with us?"

Tear's face flushed a bit more. "W-well, that is possible..." she started to say. "But now is probably not the time to talk about it."

"It's fine, Tear," Natalia told her. "I was told we have time before we arrive to Engeve. We may as well have this talk now if it is bothering you so much. If you don't talk about it now, then whatever it is may start keeping you awake worrying about it."

"That's true..." Tear said.

"So what's on your mind, Tear?" Luke asked the melodist.

"It's hard to explain... Maybe we should just save this for a later time?"

"Does it perhaps have to do with how protective someone was being when we were in the Passage Ring?" Natalia asked.

Tear knew now there would be no avoiding the subject. It was so hard to talk about, but at least Natalia's guessing was helping her to realize just how much it showed. "Does it really show that much?"

"A bit, but only because it's so unusual for both of you. Do you care about him?"

"I-I'm not really sure."

Natalia had to smile at Tear's nervousness. It reminded her of when she was younger and she had found out that she was to marry Luke. "Have you never been with a man before in a relationship then?"

"No...not at all. Well, not until..." She said and then stopped her words rather suddenly.

"Until what?" Natalia asked. "Did he do something to upset you?"

"No, not that at all," Tear's gaze shifted to her lap before she continued, her voice barely audible. "He...just kissed me earlier."

"Did he?" Natalia asked. "But that's wonderful! At least if you want a relationship with him, it is. He must care about you too."

"That's what I'm not so sure about." Tear sheepishly admitted.

"Why wouldn't you be sure?" Luke asked her. "Did you not like it when he kissed you?"

"Actually, it felt nice. What I'm not sure about is what I want."

"Because you may not see him every again after all this is over?" Natalia asked.

"Well, yes. And then he's so much older than me."

Luke smiled and laughed slightly. "Natalia's a year older than I am. Don't worry about it. Age means nothing really if you two care about each other."

"And he really can't help that fact. True, some might think you have some devious purpose, but one merely has to see you two to tell that you care about each other," Natalia mentioned.

"Really? You are older than Luke is Natalia?"

"Yes, I am. It's rather unusual for the woman to be older. You shouldn't worry. All that matters is that both people care about each other. If you have that, then the rest can be dealt with, right Luke?"

"Yeah, I guess," Luke agreed.

Tear had to smile at them. It was obvious both of them loved each other greatly. This looked like a good chance to ask some questions and shift the focus off of her and Jade. "How did both of you know that you loved each other?"

Natalia smiled, "You know, I asked that same question to Aunt Susanne."

"You did, Natalia? I asked Mother about it too," Luke mentioned.

Tear smiled at them. It was good to know that she wasn't alone. Though they obviously understood now what love was, but there was a time when they hadn't

"What did she say?" Tear asked them.

"Well, she had a hard time explaining it too. But I remember she said you just know. You care enough about someone that you want the best for them no matter how much it hurts you. You want to be with them for the rest of the time that you both will live," Natalia explained.

"Also, Mother said that true love takes time to develop," Luke told them.

"I know I don't feel that way for Jade quite yet," Tear told them.

"Don't worry about that yet. If you care about him, then tell him so. Get to know him better and see where it goes from there," Natalia suggested.

"That is the part that scares me the most. He's so hard to read, and none of us really know what secrets he's hiding," Tear admitted.

"I haven't known him as long as you and Luke have, but I haven't seen any reason that you need to fear him. Have you, Luke?"

"I admit I was a bit scared of him at first when he captured us in the Cheagle Woods. But my opinion has changed," Luke answered his wife.

"But he also helped two complete strangers then, at risk to himself. And most would have treated two who ended up in their country without authorization much worse." Tear told them.

Luke and Natalia both looked at each other and smiled. "Seriously, tell him how you feel the first chance we get," Luke told her. "Don't wait."

"I tried to earlier, but he told me that it wasn't the right time."

"He was worried about you and Luke, that's all," Natalia explained.

"And we're all worried about Engeve too; all this waiting to get there isn't helping at all," Tear added.

They heard a knock on the door which opened shortly after. "I hate to interrupt, but according to Ginji we should be landing in less than an hour," Jade told them. "…My, how convenient."

"W-what is?" Tear stammered. She really hoped he hadn't been at the door very long and overheard some of what they had been talking about.

"Finding you with Luke and Natalia; I wanted to check on both you and Luke before we left," Jade answered her not admitting to the fact that he had actually heard more than he was letting on.

"I'm fine. I must have just been tired," She answered. "Once I got some sleep, I felt much better."

"Then I expect that we won't have a repeat of what happened in Shurrey Hill with you, Tear?"

"Of course not. I should have taken better care of myself. That was my fault, and I will take better care of myself in the future."

"Tear, don't be so hard on yourself," Luke told her. "Neither of us had much control over what happened."

"Even a soldier needs to know what their limits are. If either you or Luke feel tired, you should say something."

"But there was so little time…" Tear told him.

"Both of you could have gotten some rest while we figured out the Yulian Seal," Jade suggested. "Now, do I have your promise that you will say something if you are tired?"

"I will, I promise," Tear answered him.

"And you Luke and Natalia?"

"Of course we will. But why Natalia? She's fine," Luke answered.

"She has a heavy responsibility in your protection. She will need to take care of herself also. You do recall our agreement?"

"Yeah, I do. I'll keep my end of the deal there," Luke told him.

"Good. I'll leave you three to your discussion while I speak with Ginji about where we are to land."

He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. What the three of them did not know was that he had heard most of the conversation. He was glad he had stopped to listen to the conversation; it gave him an idea of where he stood with Tear lay for sure, though not concern she had surprised him at all.

He just hoped that there wouldn't be a repeat of her near collapse at Shurrey Hill. He somehow doubted that was exhaustion, and that concerned him greatly. Luke's condition also concerned him.

But there was little that could be done now. Evacuating Engeve had to come first.

--

It didn't take long before they had landed and arrived in the small farming village of Engeve. Very little had changed since their last visit, except it seemed there were fewer people. Perhaps the war had something to do with this?

When they had flown over the surrounding area, it was evident, even from the altitude they were at, that the war they had all worked so hard to prevent was in full swing. The battlefield had not yet reached Engeve, but they all knew that was only a matter of time. Sadly, it would not be much longer before the citizens were affected by either the land falling or the war coming to their borders.

Though it was a shame nothing could be done about the battlefield, the collapse of the land itself was of greater concern. Before the battlefield could be evacuated, the war would have to be stopped. Now, they didn't know if that could be done. The problem was that neither country would withdraw unless the other did.

"We should go right to Rose's house. As the mayor, she's the only one who can order the evacuation, even if we do have Emperor Peony's authorization," Ion suggested.

"We, really don't have authorization for Engeve's evacuation. We only mentioned St. Binah if you recall," Jade explained.

"But didn't Emperor Peony also state that he didn't want anything to happen to the residents?" Tear asked.

"Exactly. We know his wishes where his people are concerned. Knowing that, I can act under his authority without any problems," Jade answered her, giving the rest of them yet another reason to be amazed at just how much power he held while within his own country, just due to his friendship with Emperor Peony.

While Tear and Luke hadn't entered the house the mayor resided in they did recall the basic location of it. The house had been right across from the inn in which they had first met Anise.

"It's so strange coming back here again, isn't it Luke?" Tear said to him.

"Yeah, it is. But at least a lot of good came from that mistake of ours. Though I sure felt stupid at the time for thinking we were in Kimlasca."

"I did too, but it's in the past and we made it back to Baticul just fine."

"I remember this place now!" Mieu chimed in all of a sudden. "It's where we accidentally stole Master's ring! I'm glad we did, if we hadn't, I wouldn't have met him!"

Natalia stopped walking, "Luke, is Mieu referring to what I think he is?"

Luke face suddenly appeared the color of his hair. He remembered that perfectly, and the last thing he had wanted was for Natalia to find out. Especially when it really didn't affect her since the ring had been found in their subsequent trip to the Cheagle Woods. "Um, possibly..."

"Mieu, you shouldn't have mentioned something to upset your Master like that." Jade admonished the cheagle.

"Mieuuuuu...I'm sorry, Master." Mieu said sadly, his big ears drooping as he said it."

"Luke, Natalia, if I may ask that you discuss this matter of our talkative cheagle friend later?"

Luke breathed a sigh of relief that Jade stepped in before Natalia could. "Sorry, Jade. Of course we need to speak with the mayor first," Luke told him.

They reached the house that was located across the street from the small inn that served the village. Inside there was only one person who smiled a broad genuine smile upon seeing them, "Fon Master Ion! And Colonel Jade Curtiss! I never expected to see either of you again. It was said that both of you perished in Akzeriuth. It's so wonderful to know that was merely a rumor."

"Rose, you know it would take more than that to rid the world of my annoying self," Jade said in a joking manner.

"Did His Imperial Majesty send you here then? Is it true that the front line is moving north?"

"The defenses should hold longer. However, this village is in extreme danger."

"Danger? But where would we go? Grand Chokmah has already activated its defenses, so we can't go there."

"What about Chesedonia?" Tear asked. "That should be safe enough for them since it isn't held by either country."

Jade thought a moment on her suggestion. "It could work, but it would be impossible to take the whole village there with the Albiore. Going on foot would be no safer either, but it's the only choice we have."

"Colonel, why don't you take the children and elderly on the Al-whateveritis? The rest of us can stay and surrender once the Kimlascans arrive."

"Rose, that would still leave you and everyone in danger when the land falls," Ion explained.

"Falling? You mean like St. Binah and Akzeriuth?"

"Unfortunately…yes," Jade answered. "Do any forces remain to protect the village?"

"Of course. Some were sent to fight in the war, but we were left with over half of the standing forces," Rose told him.

"Good. They will be needed to protect the villagers. There is no way besides the majority going on foot."

"Then we will abandon the village completely?" Rose asked.

"There's no other choice. Luke, you, Natalia and Ion stay here and direct the evacuation of the children and elderly on the Albiore with Ginji. The rest of us will go along and provide protection to those going on foot. Would tomorrow morning be too soon for you to have everyone ready to go, Rose?"

"No, not at all," Rose told him. "I'll spread the word," Rose said and then left the house to go and speak with her citizens.

"Colonel! You can't do that! What if something happens to Ion? You can't separate him from his only guardian!" Anise yelled.

"Anise, Ion, will be safer this way. We need you with our group to protect the villagers," Jade told her. "We will be short on people who can provider protection as it is."

"Anise, don't worry about me," Ion told her. "Or don't you trust that Luke and Natalia can protect me for a short time?"

"It's not that!"

"Please, Anise. Jade needs your help more right now. Don't worry about me," Ion told her.

"Fine, but only because you insist that the Colonel needs my help," Anise said.

"Don't worry, Anise. We'll keep Ion safe. We'll see you in three days in Chesedonia," Luke told the girl.

"Luke, don't forget our agreement," Jade reminded him.

"I won't," Luke said.

"I'll add one more exception for the next few days. If Ion is in danger, you can protect him, but only as a last resort."

"I understand. I just hope it won't be needed."

"If you by chance finish early, meet us in Chesedonia at the inn on the north side of the city."

"I will. All of you be careful. And Tear, take care of yourself, ok?"

"I will," Tear answered. "You don't need to worry, I won't let that happen again."

"All right, then we'll go explain everything to Ginji. See you guys in three days," Luke said to them.

Luke walked off with Ion and Natalia out to where the Albiore was parked. He had to admit, Jade's actions made him curious. Why separate Anise and Ion like that, but keep Tear with him? Ion wasn't really in any immediate danger, and while the walk may be hard on him, it was doubtful that it would be beyond his ability. It's not like the villagers wouldn't need to rest.

One of those questions was easy to answer; he knew that the canny Malkuth Colonel want to keep a close eye on Tear's condition. The best way was to keep her close to him. But did he suspect something else? They hadn't had any problems with God-Generals since Sync, Dist and Kiran appeared in St. Binah. However, the God-Generals would definitely not have forgotten about him. Other than Kimlascan troops, the evacuees were not really in any danger.

Was that Jade's reasoning? Did he suspect they would be attacked while on the way to Chesedonia? That just seemed insane, even for the God-Generals. But then, they both suspected that Mohs had been speaking with the King and could very well have been talked into giving up Luke to the Order. If that was true, then Luke was in danger even from his own country.

That reminded him, he hadn't heard from Kiran in days, not since right after St. Binah where they spoke on what happened there. What happened to his replica after that?

Luke decided he would give Kiran one more day to contact him. If that didn't happen, then it didn't matter that he promised not to initiate the connection between them first; he would do so. And then he would find out if Jade had room to suspect an attack on the way to Chesedonia, or if his replica knew anything about what Mohs might be up to.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	32. An Elaborate Act

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

It had been two days since Kiran had gone down to the Special Ops wing with the God-General, Nepenthes. As promised in their initial talk, it wasn't what he had thought it would be. No torture happened, and he had gotten some good lessons on how to act the part of a loyal soldier.

To keep up the act, he had been told to stay here during those two days. He hadn't spoken with Luke at all yet, but he would do so once he knew more about what was going to happen next.

Kiran heard the door open and then slam shut again. From what he had been told only three people in total had a key to this room: Nepenthes himself, Cantabile, and Van. The only person among those three who would slam a door like that was Cantabile.

It only took a few moments before the violet haired God-General came into view, and she looked very upset, if the door slamming hadn't been enough of a clue about her mood. "Gailardia, are you in here?!"

Kiran kept quiet. He knew that when Cantabile was in one of these moods, it was best to let her vent her anger at whoever it was to be directed at. If he answered now, she would end up taking her anger out on him. He hadn't seen Nepenthes since waking up anyway and since he had no idea where he might be, Kiran would only make her more upset.

Cantabile looked around the chamber, but there were so many dark places that she couldn't see without actually going over and looking. Kiran was relived to see that she didn't pay any attention to him. Either she didn't see him, or she was merely focused on finding Nepenthes.

Kiran noticed the door open and someone else walk in. If he hadn't been looking at the door he wouldn't have _noticed_ the blonde God-General arrive. The man was definitely good at stealth a talent he must have picked up from being the Special Ops commander.

Kiran was amazed to hear Cantabile's scream when the blonde God-General stealthily walked up behind her and put his arms around her. He just couldn't believe that someone could surprise Cantabile enough to make her scream like that. He had also never seen such a display of affection before, and especially didn't expect such gentleness from Nepenthes. He had to admit though, the past two days had changed his opinion of the man drastically. Now seeing him with his wife was doing even more to change the picture Kiran had of the man.

"Damn it! Don't scare me like that!"

"If you hadn't been so upset, you would have heard me. What happened?"

"Did you have men in Sheridan?"

"Of course. You know what my men are up to, just like I know what yours are up to."

"Some Kimlascan soldiers arrived with four men that appeared to be yours. I only heard they came from Sheridan and then left before I was noticed. Van didn't look pleased when the Kimlascans arrived."

"I'll deal with it, dear. Don't worry."

"Van's going to be very upset when he finds it all out. You weren't ordered to do anything in Sheridan."

"Not directly, but what I was planning would have helped, unless my men screwed it all up."

"If they were brought by the Kimlascan soldiers, then they must have been caught."

"Which means they were stupid and will be punished for it. It's really not a difficult thing to deal with."

Cantabile turned around to face her husband and held him close to her. "I'm just afraid Van will punish you too. You know he's not pleased with you being caught in Kimlasca for that murder either."

"But unless the Kimlascans can link it to me directly, there is no problem. Van can cover everything up with an investigation into the matter, which I'm sure he'll find a way to make it benefit him."

"But-" Cantabile started to say before she was silenced by a kiss.

They both must have forgotten that Kiran was still here, because this kiss went on for some time. It was astounding to see how quickly the temperamental Cantabile could be calmed by her husband. Then after some time, he had to wonder how they could breathe, they just kept on kissing each other.

Kiran had to admit, he was a bit envious. He didn't have much experience when it came to things like kissing, beyond the kiss Luke's wife accidentally gave him. He remembered then that he had so wished someone cared about him as much as she had obviously cared about Luke.

It was obvious from what he was watching that these two used this place often for showing their affection for each other since they had to hide their relationship. It actually explained a lot. He had learned these past two days that the Special Ops commander really wasn't a bad guy, just someone who was bitter about the past.

Though Kiran didn't doubt the rumors about the horrors that took place here had a grain of truth to them, it was obvious they were exaggerated, and he imagined even encouraged to cover up the fact that Nepenthes would meet Cantabile here. It explained how they had kept their relationship a secret for so long. He, himself wouldn't even have known if it hadn't been for the fact that the two of them shared the same last name, and that was something most people didn't know.

Kiran found he couldn't help but be oddly fascinated by the couple. He had known Cantabile wasn't in the least bit shy, but he hadn't expected her to put on such a display of love for her husband in front of him. That or she had completely forgotten he was there in her earlier anger.

Somehow, Kiran wasn't surprised to see Cantabile regain control and quickly pin her husband to the ground, causing her husband to chuckle before speaking again. "Dear, you do realize Van and Sync will be arriving soon to check up on my guest, right?"

"It's not like they don't know. And they should still be awhile dealing with the Kimlascan soldiers."

"You still shouldn't be here when they arrive. Sync isn't an idiot, he knows you have a soft spot for the replica and can put one and one together from there."

She stood back up and let him stand back up. "Fine. I'll be waiting in my office then like we planned."

"Good. I trust you already gave orders to one of your healers for the rest of this?"

"I did. I'll be waiting for you once I finish. I only have reports to file today."

"I wouldn't miss it for anything." He gave her a quick kiss to the cheek. "And waiting makes it all that much better."

She pulled him close to her. "Are you sure you can wait? That must be most painful for you."

"I'll deal with it. For this round, you win since we don't have the time for more."

"Then you better even up the score tonight." She said before giving him a kiss. Then she walked towards the door.

"Tonight too? Maybe I didn't lose after all." He called towards her before she got to the door.

"Too late. You already said you lost." She said as she walked out the door closing it behind her before he could answer.

The blonde God-General turned towards where Kiran had been trying to remain unnoticed. "You can come out now, I've known you were here since I arrived."

Kiran stepped out of the shadowy corner he had retreated to when Cantabile entered. "Sorry, I didn't want to draw attention to myself. You two seemed to want privacy."

Nepenthes laughed. "Whether Cantabile noticed you or not in her anger, she probably still would have had me right here and now if we had the time. If she had her way, the whole Order would know that I belong to her, not that I mind. She's not the type of person to hide how she feels about someone."

"So what now? You mentioned something earlier about 'the rest of this'?"

"Oh yes, there is a bit more to this act. Won't take long to set up the rest of the act."

"And that is?"

"We have to make it look like I did torture you. I have a few tools I made to make it appear as if someone is more injured than they are. They have their uses at times."

"So what do I have to do then?"

"This will be the test of how well you play your part for Sync. Now, come with me so we can make sure you look the part." He said as he walked towards a section in the back of the chamber.

"I understand and will do whatever it takes." Kiran answered as he followed the God-General.

"Damn you kid. You keep this up and I may start to think you aren't so bad after all."

--

Nepenthes and Kiran had just barely finished up with their preparations before Van arrived with Sync to check on their progress. He would not be disappointed in the supposed work Nepenthes had done for the past two days, at least the appearance of what had happened.

About the worst Kiran would have to deal with was the fact that his wrists and ankles would be bruised. For appearances sake, the blonde God-General had to strap him to one of the torture devices for when the results were shown. He was unconscious for the moment, thanks to a drug given to him. It should wear off in a short time, but again would work to make it seem like more happened than actually did. Then there was the false blood used to make it appear the redhead had been whipped. It was a trick he had seen the Dark Wings use in their performances as the Black Dream, he found it most useful at times, this being one of them.

The rest would be up to his own acting skills to pull off, and he was quite confident of them. Ever since that fateful day in Hod, he had been putting on one act after another to accomplish his goals, starting with becoming a servant in House Fabre. Compared to that, this was easy.

He turned towards the two who had entered. He knew Van was one of them, since Cantabile wouldn't be coming back, he was the only one remaining who could enter without assistance. Of course Sync was with him.

"Ah, good timing. I had just finished up our last lesson." He said while folding up the whip he was holding as a prop for the act. "If it meets with your approval, I have already summoned a healer from 5th Division."

Sync took a good look at the unconscious Kiran. "He'll need a healer if he's to go with me, but why 5th Division?"

"I only have those with the ability for basic first aid. In this case, more is needed, along with discretion." Nepenthes answered.

"I won't have any further arguments between the both of you. This matter has been settled, and Cantabile's division does have the best healers." Van told Sync. "Unless you want to send him to one of the Order's healers?"

"No, Commandant. We'll never hear the end of it then." Sync answered.

Van turned towards the blonde God-General. "Nepenthes, has the replica learned obedience then?"

"Sync should have no further complaints about his ability to follow orders."

Sync took a closer look at the unconscious Kiran. "Damn, Nepenthes, go a bit overboard with him?"

"At least he'll be useful to you now. You wanted him dead, Sync. I never found dead bodies to be all that useful, well except for attracting rats and flies."

Whatever response Sync was going to give to this statement was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. It had to be the man Cantabile sent.

"If you both will excuse me a moment, I must answer that." Nepenthes said before he went over to the door.

The soldier came in and then Kiran was unbound. He still did not awaken, forcing the soldier to carry him off. Once they both were gone, the discussion continued.

"Now, Nepenthes, when did I order you to send men to Sheridan?" Van asked.

"Directly, never. However, sending those men did follow one of the objectives you gave to me. Both Dist and I were asked to seek out useful technologies, since Dist had Belkend handled, I sent men to Sheridan to keep an eye on what was being developed there."

"Send more capable spies next time. I'll leave their punishment to you. Sync, since Nepenthes can't enter Kimlascan territory, I'll need you to deal with the political end as we discussed earlier. A simple cover up with an investigation into what happened should suffice."

"And I'm to take the replica, correct?"

"Yes. He could be very useful to you. And this will be a good test of his loyalty."

"Understood."

--

Kiran woke up in his own personal quarters some time later. The last thing he could remember was being given something and then soon after he felt dizzy and everything went black. He had no idea how much time had passed, but could guess someone carried him here.

Then he noticed that he was lying on his stomach and his back was rather wet and the wetness was being wiped away with a soft cloth. Someone else was here, and whoever it was was being very gentle in their ministrations.

"Ah, good. You're awake already. I was afraid I gave him too much and you would be out longer."

"Cantabile?"

"Of course. Who else could be trusted to keep up the act?"

"I still don't understand why you are doing this. But thank you for your help."

"I can't explain it all now, maybe someday. For now, let's just say I can't stand seeing you get hurt and leave it at that."

"Then I guess I'll have to look forward to when you can trust me enough to confide in me."

"If you remember what my husband taught you, you may eventually understand," she told him. "Anyway, you seem to be doing fine now, and I have you all cleaned up, so I should leave before Sync comes to check up on you."

"Thanks again."

"You helped me in the past, I'm just returning the favor. The rest is up to you, kid. We just gave you the tools you need to survive." She left the room at that time, leaving Kiran alone with his own thoughts.

The only thing he really could figure out from what she had said was that she obviously was up to something that would not be authorized by the Order. Her unwillingness to speak on that said a great deal and that was the best guess. Whatever it was, she was sworn to secrecy by someone.

Even knowing that she was up to something didn't help, because he had no idea what that could be. For all he knew, it could have nothing to do with Van's overall goals and just not be approved of. Or she could even be working on actively preventing Van's goals from being attained. If that were the case, it was a shame she wouldn't talk; he would be happy to assist her in whatever way he could.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening again suddenly. He looked up and saw Sync's masked profile looking in his direction. The green haired God-General hadn't said anything yet, he was merely looking Kiran over, most likely to see how well he recovered from the past two days.

Then he finally spoke, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Make sure you're ready to leave Daath tomorrow. I've been asked to bring you along on a mission."

"How long should I prepare to be gone for?"

"It shouldn't take long. Prepare for a week."

"As you wish, sir."

"Good. Then I can assume there will be no difficulties like we had on the last mission?"

"There won't be."

"Good, then maybe I won't have to throw you away when it's all over after all. Though that depends on your continued cooperation. You are aware that you are not being given any more chances, right?"

"I'm aware. I won't disappoint you."

"Be ready at first light. I'll come for you since you aren't to leave this room tonight." Sync said before leaving the room and Kiran could hear the door lock behind the green haired God-General.

It seemed as if his act worked like a charm, so far at least.

--

One day had passed since Jade, Tear, and Anise started evacuating the citizens from Engeve. It had been a difficult journey given their proximity to the battlefield along with the sheer number of people making the trip. Since the majority of the villagers weren't used to such a long journey, they did have to take regular breaks. It slowed them down, but better to arrive late than not at all. Ginji and the others knew to wait in Chesedonia at the north side inn if they arrived first.

Anise had spent most of the trip so far sulking about the fact that Ion had been sent to help Ginji's group. The first day was quite tedious because of her almost constant complaining for the first few hours. It was understood that she worried when separated from the Fon Master, but it was for the best. It was a great relief when she finally kept her sulking to herself and instead took her mood out on what few monsters they actually met up with.

Then to add to the misery of the trip so far, Tear had been quite silent and kept to herself mostly. Jade did keep an eye on her condition as they made this trip. So far she had been doing perfectly fine. His fears as far as her health was concerned did ease up, but it was still something to keep an eye on. She did spent some time among the villagers healing any injuries they got along the road. Thankfully there were very few beyond cuts and scrapes that didn't require anything more than cleaning up and the occasional bandage. It was evident Tear was enjoying helping them out.

Jade had hoped to speak with Tear at some point when they had some time to rest. After overhearing her conversation with Natalia and Luke, he wanted to ease her fears as far as he was concerned. However, it looked like that would have to wait considering how she was avoiding him. He didn't blame her; she probably needed time to think things over before they had time alone again. As long as she wasn't feeling any undue stress because of her concerns, he had no problem giving her all the time she needed.

But between Anise's sulking and Tear's silence, this was going to be a very long trip indeed.

One of the soldiers from the Engeve standing forces came running up to Jade. "What's going on?" the Malkuth Colonel asked.

"We found an ideal spot for camp today."

"Good. Plenty of shade for the villagers then and away from the battlefield?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Then start moving the villagers that way. It's getting late enough as it is, the villagers need to rest. Handle the divisions for watches."

"Of course sir. We haven't spotted any Kimlascan soldiers nearby so it should be a quiet night."

"Keep an eye out for Oracle Knights as well. As we get closer to Chesedonia, we are more likely to run into them."

"Yes, sir!"

The man ran off to inform the others. At least now another day had passed on this long and tedious journey. They were making reasonable time considering the number of people involved.

It didn't take long to get the whole group to the campsite; all of them were in need of a rest and were happy the day was nearly over. Unlike the previous night, the mood was less subdued. It was to be expected that the villagers were not going to be happy about leaving their homes to an unknown fate on a single day's notice, but the main concerns seemed to be making the journey safely. Signs of relief could already be seen among the villagers as another day passed with few problems.

Jade could see Tear a short distance away attending to a young man who had injured himself earlier. She started smiling once she saw the man stand up and walk on his own without any problems. It was such a relief to see her smiling, along with the fact that she had used her talents many times and didn't appear to be tired at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by a noise behind him. He listened closely to identify the source of the sound and was able to quickly identify it as being a certain Fon Master Guardian up to no good. "Anise, you know that you can't sneak up on me," he said to her without even turning around.

"Booo, you're no fun at all, Colonel."

"I don't try to be. You also know I can't do anything about Ion. Complaining and sulking will do you no good."

"I know that. I'm still worried about him, but that's not what I came to ask about."

"And as I told you before. He's safer with Luke and the others. Now, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"You say he's safer with Luke and the others, why do you think that? Do you expect something to happen?"

He finally turned to face the girl. "Chesedonia is a neutral ground that is dependent on the Order of Lorelei. It has been some time since we have seen any God-Generals, now would be a perfect time for an attack."

"Then you think one will attack?"

"It is not beyond the realm of possibility. If they do, they will be very disappointed to not find Ion or Luke with us."

"They'll just keep trying."

"But then we won't have the villagers with us. Luke and Ion would give themselves up to prevent any of them getting hurt."

Just then another solider came running up to them. "Colonel Curtiss! A group of Oracle Knights have been spotted nearby!"

"How many?" Jade asked the soldier.

"Looked to be about twenty of them."

"Were any wearing a black uniform?"

"Yeah. There was a blonde haired woman who looked to be their commander."

"That sounds like Legretta the Quick." Anise commented. "Should I go get Tear?"

"Yes, please do Anise. Also find three soldiers to accompany us. We'll be outnumbered, but we need as many as we can have here. The rest will stay here and get as many of the villagers as possible out of sight. Try to keep the villagers calm if possible."

Both Anise and the solider left to do as ordered. Less than a minute passed before Anise returned with Tear and the first three soldiers she had found. Then the small group left to go meet with their visitors before they could arrive.

They knew at this point in time that the best tactic was going to be to meet the group head on. The important thing was to make sure that whatever they wanted, they didn't attack the villagers. All of them were ready to attack the moment the Oracle Knights showed any signs of attacking them.

Once they saw the Oracle Knights, Tear knew that their leader was indeed Legretta. She knew that Legretta would be here under Van's orders, and that had to mean she was here for the Fon Master or Luke, if not the both of them. If only she could speak with Legretta first, they might just back off once they knew their targets weren't here.

That plan was blown by the wayside the moment they received some shots towards their feet. They were obviously warning shots, but they were still a direct threat.

"Hand over Fon Master Ion and the Kimlascan heir at once!" She commanded them guns at ready to shoot again.

"Major Legretta, what are you doing here?" Tear asked.

The woman looked somewhat shocked for a moment upon seeing Tear, but she recovered quickly. "Tear, hand both of them over, or I won't hesitate to attack all of you now, starting with the Necromancer."

Tear gasped in shock. They couldn't meet demands like that, it was impossible even if they wanted to, and the last thing she wanted was anyone to get hurt because of it, especially Jade.

He quickly filled in the silence Tear caused with her lack of response. "I'm afraid that while you will find it rather difficult to kill me; it will have to wait." He pointed his spear at Legretta, ready to attack her with it. "But if you wish for a battle over two people who are not even here, be my guest."

The God-General aimed her guns right at him. "You're lying, Necromancer. Both were sighted with you in St. Binah."

"Major, he's not lying!" Tear pleaded with her.

The female God-General quirked an eyebrow at Tear's pleas. "Most interesting. Then Tear, can you explain why the Fon Master's guardian is here without him? If the Necromancer speaks the truth, she should not be here."

"It wasn't my choice!" Anise declared before Tear could even respond.

"None of us can exactly deny the Fon Master's wishes, now can we?" Jade commented in Tear's place.

"I was asking Tear for her opinion. Tear, is what they say the truth?" Legretta asked, her guns still pointing right at Jade.

The melodist had to think a moment before answering. Ion hadn't exactly expressed his own wishes before they departed; but he didn't disagree with Jade's plan. That meant he agreed and it was his wish, right? She hoped so, because she hated lying.

"The Colonel speaks the truth." She finally answered. "The Fon Master's health wouldn't allow him to take such a long journey on foot and he did not wish to hinder us."

"Most fascinating indeed. Why you protect him is beyond me." Legretta answered, putting her guns away.

"None of the Order wishes the Fon Master to get hurt." Tear answered.

"I wasn't speaking of him. It is obvious you have forgotten much of what I taught you." She called back to the men with her, "Move out! The Fon Master isn't here."

Tear was finally able to feel relief the moment Legretta and the Oracle Knights walked off. She had been so scared the moment Jade was threatened. But Legretta was right, she had forgotten what she was taught. She let her emotions get in the way, and that could never happen again.

She felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Let's go back and report that the Oracle Knights have withdrawn." She heard Jade's voice say from behind her.

"Yes, of course."

"And you shouldn't keep secrets. We'll talk about that more later."

--

Luke leaned back against the shining black wall and took a good look at his surroundings. It had changed greatly since the last time he recalled being here. The sun was actually so bright that he was nearly blinded even looking straight ahead. He had to quickly shield his eyes with his hand to prevent himself from being blinded.

Once he did so, he was able to get a better look. He had begun to get the idea that the surroundings did a good job at mirroring his health. Before Akzeriuth it had been a lush and healthy field with a decent amount of light, though not so bright that it hurt. Now it was getting closer to that state, but still far from there. He was glad to see more tufts of grass peeking out of the ground, but it bothered him to see a few weeds popping up. What could that mean? Maybe he would talk to Jade or Tear about it, if anyone could figure that out, they could.

He didn't get a chance to think about that further since all of a sudden he fell backwards through the wall. He fell with a thud into the thicker grass on the other side and the sudden change of light made it hard to see. Amazingly, for how he had landed, it didn't hurt one bit.

He heard the sound of laughter coming from above him. His eyes hadn't quite adjusted to the change of the light so he couldn't see the person gaining such amusement, but he recognized who it was just from the sound of the laugh. It sounded so much like his own, but at the same time, held a striking difference. "Well, I'm glad someone finds this funny at least."

Luke saw a hand come towards him. "I'm sorry, Luke. I couldn't help it. The look on your face as you fell through was just priceless."

Luke took his replica's hand and pulled himself up. "Don't worry about it. I'm just embarrassed that I didn't realize that could happen. It's good to see you doing so well, Kiran. I was getting worried."

"Well, they kept me busy the past few days."

"With what? Last we spoke was after St. Binah. Did they punish you harshly for that?"

"Van and Sync think so. A favor was owed to me and has been repaid in full now."

"A favor? But who could owe you such a favor that would get you out of what had to be a horrible punishment?"

"Luke, you probably already know. We talked about this once in the past. Remember how Nepenthes was supposed to be executed for murdering your father?"

Luke frowned. He did remember that, and Kiran's role in his former servant's escape. He didn't blame his replica for following orders, but hated to be reminded of it. "And damn him for getting away so easily. I should have known he was up to something, he was much too accepting of his fate."

"Yeah, I think he knew his wife would come up with something. But truly, I'm sorry for my part in that since I know it bothers you."

"I told you, I'm not mad at you for it. You were merely following orders and things were different then."

"Luke, I know you can't forgive him for what he did, but truly, he's not as bad as you think he is. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if he and Cantabile are truly loyal to Van after all. Cantabile at least was acting rather mysterious when giving me some advice."

"You're right. I can't truly forgive him for what he did to Father. I know his reasons, but now I'm without a father and won't ever be able to forget that night. Had he faced his punishment, I may have been able to forgive him in time."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. I don't want to upset you."

"So what makes you think he and Cantabile aren't loyal?"

"Both of them helped me come up with a way to feign obedience so I don't earn further punishments. The ease with which they did it started getting me to thinking if they both are doing exactly what they taught me how to do."

"That doesn't say much though. Both of them probably have their own goals and working with Van helps them to accomplish them. Or did you find out something new about their plans that you haven't mentioned yet?"

"Not much, but I did get some clues. The destruction of the Score seems to be what their goal is."

"That much we had some idea about. Did you find out how they plan to accomplish it?"

"Nothing exact yet. I know it has something to do with replicas. The Hod War also seems to play a part, and so do we. Van definitely has a need for one of us."

"Why do you say that?"

"I should have earned a death sentence for what I've done so far. Van's giving me another chance to prove my loyalty."

"Really? Hmm, I'll have to ask Anise or Tear about that, they would understand better what that means."

"Luke, traitors are sentenced to death, with no exceptions. I'm the only exception, and that may not last forever."

"What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Sync made Van promise the following: 'If he disobeys one more order, no matter how minor, when the Score is no more, I get the pleasure of removing his head.' That was the condition for me being allowed to only get punished."

"But that sounds like it's only if you disobey. If you don't, you'll be fine."

"That's why we need to come up with a way that I can obey, but merely fail at following orders that I prefer not to carry out."

"It can be done, and it shouldn't even be too difficult, as long as the curse slot is removed and you have control of your actions."

"Even if I lack control, you still beat me in a one on one battle. I know my skills are lacking compared to yours, so it's very believable."

"Then what will happen if you keep failing at killing me?"

"Someone else will be sent and the pressure will be off me."

"Is that really much better? You should just find a way out of there. Can't you find some way to leave?"

"I'm better off here where I can at least get some information."

"Even that's too dangerous. We'll be coming to Daath once we're done here, you should consider coming with us."

"Why? I have more chance of getting something out of the God-Generals if I remain among them. Sync may well slip up again, or if he doesn't, another one will. Also, I may be leaving Daath soon for a mission and won't be able to escape."

"So? You just need to tell us where you're going and we'll find a way. Or are you just saying all this because you don't want Ion to remove the curse slot?"

Kiran remained silent. He really didn't know how to answer that. He was quite afraid of the curse slot being removed. Without it, Van and Sync lost their main form of control over him. It was even possible that they'd consider it disobeying orders. How could he even answer Luke without knowing for sure what the answer was? He just couldn't say the words to ease the fear he knew Luke had; the words just wouldn't come out.

Luke broke the silence at last. "I see then. Well if that's what you want, then we don't have anything else to talk about." He then turned and walked back towards the wall he fell through earlier.

Right as his original was about to step through, Kiran finally spoke, "Luke, wait! It's not what you think!"

But he was too late, only the cold wall in front of him heard his impassioned pleas.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	33. Dramatic Reappearance

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch to me, I would be happy to take him. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

As always, many thanks to my wonderful beta, darkangel, who helps inspire me with wonderful evil and angsty ideas and edits for me when some of what I write doesn't always make sense and helps me make sure things make sense. I also want to thank everyone who helped me out with ideas or gave me feedback on ideas or even dropped me a line either here or on the Tales forum about how much they loved this fic.

* * *

Even though they had only passed through it the last time, as Ion, Luke and Natalia entered Chesedonia they could tell that the war had a profound effect on the city There were many people in the marketplace on the north side, many more than the last time they were in town. Even in the short distance from the entrance to the inn they kept bumping into all the people hurrying to and fro. No matter how much they tried to avoid bumping into others, the streets were just too crowded not to, what with all the evacuees and the addition of soldiers.

Luke and the others were just glad to finally be finished. They knew that if Jade and his group had not yet arrived, they would soon with the evacuees on foot. It would be a relief to know that all those people were safe now.

Ion had already spoken with Astor about the evacuees staying for a time until they found another place the first time they came to drop off the evacuees—Ginji had made several trips to Chesedonia in total. Astor had had no problem at all with it, since the city was actually doing very well at this time. His only concern was having enough room for them all to stay. All Ion and his group had to do was wait for the others to arrive at the inn if they hadn't already done so.

So far everything had gone well, except for one thing. He didn't know what had happened, but when they woke up this day, Luke had been in a very foul mood. The redhead had been rather quiet most of the trip as it was, but it was different this day. Now instead of just being quiet, he had taken to acting sullen and snapping at anyone who spoke with him. Even Natalia wasn't immune to this strange behavior of his, as Ion found out.

"Luke, what's wrong? What happened?" Natalia asked as they were walking for what had to be the hundredth time now. Not that he had been keeping track, it was just getting repetitive.

"I told you, nothing's wrong!" the redhead yelled back to his wife.

The young Fon Master sighed. Even patience such as his would run out if this kept up. He knew something happened with Luke between last night and when they woke up this morning; Luke was too silent and sullen when Natalia wasn't nagging him. It was getting rather worrisome to see him like this.

He wished he could do something. However, he knew that if Natalia with all her nagging couldn't get Luke to talk about it, what could he do? Ion couldn't think of anything, and didn't have a clue where to start. No one knew what put Luke in such a foul mood. The only thing he could come up with to help his companion out was to mention it to Jade and hope the Malkuth Colonel had an idea. He just had a feeling that the reason behind Luke's sudden bad mood was important. But maybe he could at least stop Natalia's nagging; it certainly wasn't doing anyone any good.

After weaving their way through the crowds, the three companions finally arrived at the inn. After speaking with the innkeeper and finding out the others had not yet arrived, they snatched last two available rooms so at least everyone wouldn't have to spend another night on the Albiore. All of them had been looking forward to real beds for a night, and they were sure the others would be appreciative of an actual bed rather than sleeping on the ground.

The important thing for Ion was that he would finally be able to get some peace and quiet and he looked forward to taking a long nap, at least until the others arrived. He knew once Anise showed up, she would fuss over him, and any hopes for some decent rest would vanish completely. It wasn't that bad–he did like that someone cared enough to make such a big deal–but he would just have to make sure that he was rested enough before she arrived so she would be less worried.

He excused himself and walked into one of the rooms and closed the door behind him. At last, some peace and quiet. He hoped he wasn't disturbed before Anise and the others arrived, since he truly was quite tired.

And he prayed to Yulia that Luke would finally talk to his wife before then as well. He really didn't want to have to have Jade work on the redhead.

--

Jade, Tear and Anise finally arrived to the north side entrance of Chesedonia late that same day that Ion. The villagers were relieved to have finally reach their destination and with very few problems other than their encounter with the Oracle Knights the previous day.

"Anise, why don't you go on ahead to the inn and see if Ion and the others have arrived yet," Jade asked the girl once most of the villagers had entered to find places to stay.

The young Fon Master Guardian got a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You just want to be alone with Tear finally, right Colonel?"

"I merely thought you would be eager to check on Ion. You've talked about little else today."

"You should go ahead, Anise. The Fon Master must be worried about you," Tear suggested.

"Yeah, he does worry a lot, and who knows how well he took care of himself without me. He always pushes himself too hard! Fine, I'll leave you lovebirds alone then," she said before skipping off towards the inn.

"I should get some rest as well," Tear mentioned and started walking away.

"Tear, I sent Anise off so we can discuss those secrets you had been keeping. That and why you've been avoiding me the past few days."

She looked down towards her feet. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you. I just needed some time to think without any pressure."

"So I pressure you?"

"You don't, it's more that I'm confused. I wanted a clear mind to think things through."

He smirked. "I see then. Then I will give you more time. We do need to talk on one matter, however."

"I know. I shouldn't keep secrets, especially if I expect you to be honest with me. I didn't mean anything by not mentioning about Major Legretta. It had never come up until then."

"What is she to you then?"

"She and Cantabile both trained me personally. It caused me some ridicule among the other Oracle Knight trainees since Legretta personally came to Yulia City to give me lessons. I guess I just got in the habit of not mentioning it."

"They thought it was because you were the Commandant's sister."

"Yes, I was thought to be getting special treatment. But I asked many times why I wasn't training like everyone else and never got a clear answer."

"It would have been best had we known this sooner. Since both of them know you well, they can use your weaknesses to their advantage. Next time, you will have to make sure to treat me like everyone else. You did do well to refer to me by my title."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to show that her threat meant anything."

"Let me deal with threats to my life next time. I'm quite capable of handling them, you merely have to trust me."

"I do trust you."

"Then we should be fine as long as both of us are more careful in the future. I can trust you to not be swayed by either threats from Cantabile or Legretta in the future, right?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure I can fight Cantabile."

"You had no problem before. What happened?"

"It's nothing really. I shouldn't let it bother me that I met her son."

"She has a son? When did you find this out?" He asked her.

"In Grand Chokmah. I saw her with the boy. He was so cute, and she was so different around him. But it's nothing, and it won't affect me."

He sighed. It wouldn't do at all for Tear to hesitate because of this. Cantabile was among the most dangerous of their enemies from what he had observed so far of the God-Generals. Despite her denial, he knew she would hesitate. It was always harder to face an enemy if you knew them. Once the enemy was no longer nameless, any but the most hardened of soldiers would hesitate even slightly. It was no surprise that Tear was finding this hard. "Of course it won't. At least no more than you having to fight your own brother does."

He always was so right. Fighting Cantabile will be like fighting her own brother, she won't like it, but in the end she knew she would do what was right. "Don't tell Luke and Natalia about him. That's why I kept it to myself. Especially Luke, it would confuse him considering how he feels about those two."

"Tear, I don't blame you for keeping that, though it would have been nice to know you met Cantabile in Grand Chokmah."

"It was just by accident. I was shopping and she went to the same store with her son."

"It's not that I don't trust you. Any information we have on the God-Generals and their movements is helpful. Knowing that both were in Grand Chokmah at that time changes things. Knowing their son was there gives even more information. That and any information on Van himself would be helpful. For instance, how will he likely take the fact that you showed an interest in me?"

"I don't know."

"Was he protective of you growing up perhaps?"

"He was like a father to me along with being my brother. He did try to prevent me from joining the Oracle Knights, but I had promised I would be with him."

"So he is protective of his sister then."

"Why do you ask?"

"Brothers do have a tendency to protect their little sisters from the men they are dating. In the case of your brother, that could be quite dangerous for us all."

Her hand flew to her mouth as she realized what he meant. "I'm so sorry, Jade! I didn't mean to-"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We are prepared now for the worst."

"Of course, a trap is only a trap if you don't know about it."

"Exactly. Let's get to the inn before Anise and Ion come looking for us."

--

Anise and Ion were standing in the lobby of the inn when Jade and Tear entered it. Anise snickered as soon as she laid eyes on them, earning herself what had to be the closest thing to a glare that the young Fon Master could give a person. It was, however, quite effective indeed. Anise quieted down completely and stared at her feet.

"Ion, have you already spoken with Astor about the citizens of Engeve staying here?" Jade asked the Fon Master.

"I did. He welcomes them for as long as they need to stay," Ion answered.

"I'm not surprised, this city appears to be the only place benefiting from the war. Did Astor mention anything about the conditions of the area?"

"You mean signs that this area may fall also?" Ion asked. "He did mention an increase in earthquakes..."

"And with this being a desert, no one has seen any cracks in the ground as with St. Binah?"

"Actually, while I was speaking with him, one of the men scouting the desert returned. I guess Astor wanted to assess what sort of damage had been done with the earthquakes. The scout did mention some cracks, but they were buried in the sand. It was enough for Astor to warn to be careful if we had to go to the desert for any reason."

"Then he hasn't closed the desert yet?"

"I got the impression that he would soon, if he hasn't already. But that part of the city is blockaded by soldiers from both sides."

"Is there no way around it then? I would think they would allow the Fon Master and his group to pass." Tear commented.

"That would be true if we were all Oracle Knights, but we aren't. Ion, where did they set the blockade up?"

"In front of the large building near Astor's mansion. The one right on the border."

"Ah, the bar then. Has it been closed for business?"

Ion smiled when he realized what direction Jade's devious mind was going in. "No, I saw people going in and out of both entrances."

"Good. That will be our way through if Astor can't work something out."

"Shall I go speak with him then?"

"Please do. He wouldn't refuse you permission to move about in the city and the desert."

"So what are our plans then?" Tear asked. "Are we going to evacuate this city too?"

"There's no time, and we also don't have a place for them to go."

"Then what are we going to do, Jade?" Luke asked.

"We'll have to lower the land."

"But what about all these people? They'll die when the land falls, won't they?" Natalia asked.

"Not if we lower it slowly." Jade mentioned.

"We can do that?" Luke asked.

"In theory, it should be possible."

"Then what about the battlefield?"

"We may not have time to do that." Jade told them. "Ion, why don't you go see Astor. It would be best if we left as soon as possible."

"Of course."

--

Thanks to Ion and Astor, the party had no problems getting through the blockade and out of the city itself. The crowds were thick on both sides, but at least they could get through.

Everyone was tired, but it was for the best that they left immediately. Night was about to fall, and traveling through the desert at night, even with the current conditions would be much less strenuous than traveling during the day. Also, they had no idea how long they had, so getting this done as soon as possible was for the best. They would have had Ginji drop them off near the ruins, but it was doubtful that he could find anyplace to land them safely on the ever shifting sands of the desert.

They had to be very careful while walking in the desert. The high winds that were prominent in this area had filled in many of the cracks that had been left by the earthquakes. Add that to the fact that they were walking in the dark, it was quite a treacherous journey. They had to slow their pace, but it was still a faster pace than they could have gone had they actually waited and gotten some rest.

The going was slow, but they did finally reach the ruins just as the sun was starting to peek out over the horizon of the mountains surrounding the desert. Once they got inside, on Ion's request they took a short rest. Ion himself didn't feel very tired, but looking at Luke and Tear, he could tell they were exhausted and too stubborn to admit to it. At least during the trip between the exhaustion and the fact that they had to be so careful walking, everyone was rather quiet, well except for Anise. It was definitely a rare day for that girl to be anything besides perky and cheerful, and it was obvious she was plotting something.

The young Fon Master Guardian slid up to Luke. "Luke, what are you going to do with Mieu this time?" she asked in a conspirational tone.

Luke looked at her with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember what happened last time? Mieu got all stuck in your hair!" Anise said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Oh! I remember that." Tear exclaimed. "Poor thing, he got himself so tangled that I had to help get him out."

"Luke or Mieu?" Anise asked.

"I'd say Mieu." Jade answered for Tear. "Luke wasn't exactly being gentle in removing Mieu." Jade reminded them.

"I'd like to see you try to detangle Mieu from your own hair. It's not all that easy you know."

Jade shrugged. "Oh, I would, but he'd probably get sick if he were on my shoulder. The height difference, you know."

Natalia interrupted before her husband had a chance to respond. She knew how sensitive he could be when it came to comments about his height. "All of you have been here before then? Luke never mentioned that."

"Yeah, we came here on the way to Akzeriuth. Remember how Ion went missing before I left? This was where they brought him."

"How did you find that out, and why here?"

"I was needed to open the door the Sephiroth." Ion told her. "This was the closest one to Baticul so it made sense to come here first."

"And wasn't this where we met Kiran for the first time?" Anise mentioned.

"Shouldn't we be going now?" Luke asked. "We really shouldn't delay more than we have to."

"Colonel, won't you take Mieu then?" Anise asked.

"I'll take him if Luke doesn't want to." Tear offered causing Anise to start giggling again when the young cheagle was placed on her shoulder.

"Anise, what are you up to?" Jade asked the girl.

"Nothing." Anise answered in a singsong voice.

As they started walking further into the ruins again, it was obvious what Anise was up to. She play playing a little game of matchmaker, though she obviously had intended for Tear to have to untangle Mieu from the Colonel's hair, but having Tear hold him seemed to work just as well, if they could get the canny Malkuth Colonel to cooperate in such a way.

They continued walking through the ruins until they reached the area where they had fought Sync and Largo the last time, right by the door that led to the passage ring itself. It was obvious from the condition of the area that the God-Generals had been in a hurry to leave. Considering Sync and Kiran's presence at Akzeriuth, it wasn't at all surprising that they had been in a hurry to leave.

However, it was obvious someone, probably Largo, had enough time to block the door with an especially large boulder. Considering the size of it, it had to be Largo who moved it, since it was larger than Sync or Kiran were, even if the two smaller God-Generals had combined their strength.

"Most impressive of Largo." Jade commented upon seeing the boulder. "But only a slight delay. Tear, could you let Mieu down so he can help us with this?"

Anise started giggling like a maniac when she saw Tear try to untangle the tiny cheagle from her long hair. "Colonel, I think Tear needs some assistance." she tried to say between giggles.

"Anise, that wasn't nice of you at all." Jade told the girl while walking over towards Tear.

"Don't worry, I can untangle him myself." Tear said while still struggling to free Mieu. "It will just take a moment."

He pretended not to hear her denial and quickly had Mieu free. The cheagle was quite relieved to be free and to be able to help them. He had the boulder broken into tiny pieces in no time.

Anise, however, couldn't stop giggling, most likely due to the shade of pink Tear's face had become.

"If you are done, Anise, perhaps you should take Mieu so we can continue. I'm sure Ion would be happy to assist you if he gets tangled up in your pigtails." Jade told her as he placed the cheagle on her shoulder.

The young Fon Master Guardian's face turned a shade of pink to match Tear's, causing Luke and Natalia to have to stifle laughter. At least Anise did succeed at one thing, everyone's moods had lightened considerably with her antics.

They continued onwards down the long and winding path that led to the passage ring. Compared to Shurrey Hill, it was a much longer walk to get to where they needed to be. Most of the trip was downhill, which was making the going easier for now. However that meant it would be more difficult on the way back, especially if something happened to Luke or Tear.

Even the ever cheerful Anise was starting to become somewhat moody from the long walk and kept asking if they were almost there yet. She had to be getting tired, since her shorter legs meant she had to walk faster to keep up with everyone else. Then finally after what had seemed like forever, they reached the passage ring.

"So Jade, how are we going to lower this land safely?" Luke asked.

"Your hyperresonance. We are going to write a command through brute force. Tear, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I can handle this." She told him as she walked up to the strange device. It opened up and they could see the glyphs they had seen at Shurrey Hill. This time there was only one circle with red around it.

Jade walked up behind her and looked intently at the glyphs. A frown came over his face but why this was, he didn't comment on it. "Luke, you may go ahead and use your hyperresonance. Start by erasing the red circle like you did at Shurrey Hill."

"All right." Luke raised his hands up in the air to help him focus his hyperresonance. He erased the red much quicker than he had at Shurrey Hill. It was obvious he was feeling much more confident now about his ability to control his hyperresonance "What now?"

"If I may make a suggestion?" Ion asked.

"Go right ahead Ion."

"I was thinking about why Van may have closed Shurrey Hill up when he may need to access it again. Do you maybe think we can work Shurrey Hill from here?"

Jade looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, that actually makes perfect sense. Luke, draw a line connecting this Sephiroth with Shurrey Hill."

"Got it." Luke answered. He drew a straight line connecting the two circles in a matter of moments.

"Now, on this Sephiroth write 'Tree descent, normal speed."

"Got it." The redhead wrote the letters of the circle that represented the Zao Ruins Sephiroth.

"Luke watch out!" He heard Anise yelling from behind him as he was writing the last of the letters on the circle. An enlarged Tokunaga came flying in the direction of Luke.

A bullet came through the air towards Luke, but Anise's quick action prevented it from hitting its intended target. Had it done so, Luke would probably be near death now, if not already dead. Instead the only damage was a large hole in Tokunaga's chest area.

Luke was able to finish putting the last letter of the command on the glyph thanks to Anise's quick reaction. Who knows what would have happened had he been interrupted, and none of them wanted to, or had the time to think about it.

"You're too late if your intent was to stop him." Jade told the intruder even though he knew full well that wasn't her intent, it was probably just a desired consequence. "Luke, Tear, that's all. Both of you take Ion and get out of sight."

Tear stepped backwards towards Jade to do as he commanded. Her body, however, had other thoughts. It must have reached its limits and her knees buckled and she started to fall towards the ground. Before she could hit the ground, she was caught in one arm by Jade who had his weapon ready in the other arm.

"Put her down right now, Necromancer." Legretta told him as she came into their view, her gun still aimed at Luke. "One move from the Sacred Flame and he dies. I told you that this time I wouldn't leave peacefully. Now hand them both over."

"Why are you here, Legretta?" Ion asked the blonde God-General.

"To retrieve you and the Sacred Flame, Fon Master."

"You mean Luke then? Obviously your orders don't include him being brought back alive." Jade commented.

"No, they do not."

"If I come back willingly, will you leave the others alive?" Ion asked.

"If both of you come back willingly, I will leave the rest unharmed. If you fight me, I won't hesitate to kill all of you except the Fon Master."

"You won't take Ion and Luke away!" Anise declared. "And I'll never forgive you for hurting Tokunaga!"

Legretta aimed her other gun straight at Anise, turning ever so slightly away from Jade and Tear, but her other gun remained trained on Luke. "I'll be happy to give you one to match it if you go anywhere near that hideous thing."

Whatever Anise was about to say in response was interrupted. It appeared that the Malkuth Colonel was all too happy to take advantage of the God-General's lapse and he was perfectly able to cast a fonic arte even one handed. A giant bubble of water appeared over Legretta's head.

"I see you've broken the fon slot seal, Necromancer." she said as she tried to get out of the way. She wasn't fully successful, but it was enough that she wasn't hurt too badly. "I shouldn't have underestimated you. Not bad at all to still be able to use fonic artes while holding an unconscious woman you so obviously care for."

"Oh, I merely didn't want to step on her."

"It's too late for denials, Necromancer. The Commandant has already been sent word about Tear."

Tear could hear Jade's defense of her and knew that Legretta had made good on her threat to return. She tried to move, but between Jade's hold on her, and her own shakiness, she couldn't. She couldn't even open her eyes. What bad timing for her to show weakness. Now she was even hindering Jade in battle, though he didn't seem to be showing it at all.

What was the most amazing to all of them was the fact that Luke was actually still standing. He was leaning heavily against Tokunaga, but he was still quite awake, unlike the last time. It had to be taking everything he had within him to keep on standing at this point, but this had to end soon. Legretta's guns at this range were bound to seriously hurt someone besides Tokunaga if this kept up.

"If the Fon Master and I go with you, what will happen to us?"

"Luke! Don't even think about that! You know what they want!" Natalia yelled to him.

"Whatever happens to you is up to you and the Commandant."

Whatever Luke's answer was to be was suddenly interrupted by the ground shaking. It must the land starting to lower thanks to Luke's previous efforts. All of them had to steady themselves to even remain standing, but for the whole group, between their weapons that were already out, or the railings meant to prevent a fall into the core. They could still attack at least.

Legretta, however, wasn't so lucky. She wasn't close to anything she could use to support herself and quickly lost her balance. Before she had lost her footing, Natalia shot an arrow in her direction. It didn't quite hit her intended target, thanks to the shaking and Legretta's change in position, but it would definitely prevent further damage from being done with that hand. The arrow itself was embedded into Legretta's right wrist, if the wrist wasn't shattered, at least some muscles were torn. She definitely wouldn't be using that arm any time soon.

The rest who could were casting fonic artes. It was harder to concentrate, but the opportunity that came to them could not be missed. If even one hit her well, this battle would be over. Anise was all too happy to hurt Legretta; it was quite evident that she was upset about Tokunaga. She finished casting her arte first.

Unfortunately, she wasn't lucky enough to actually hit Legretta. It wasn't surprising, the arte tended to hit someone standing, Legretta wasn't standing anymore. For at least that one thing, Legretta's sudden change in position was advantageous to her. However, that didn't mean she was in the clear, no not at all.

Jade was also casting a fonic arte, but given his was much more complex than the one Anise just finished, it was taking a bit longer. It required greater concentration, but he was indeed skilled enough that nothing should prevent him from finishing, unless Legretta suddenly got up and attacked him.

Or so he had thought. He was surprised by the sudden appearance of a rain of icicles above Legretta, slicing both her exposed skin and her clothing all over. Normally that was a reasonably easy arte to dodge, but she didn't have the time to do so, especially with her injured wrist. She hadn't even been able to stand back up, much less dodge quickly. It was no surprise that she quickly lost consciousness, and if left like that for much longer, she could very well die.

The battle was definitely over now. Even if Legretta could stand up again, she would be doing so at the risk of her own life. She may be obsessively devoted to her Commandant, but the risk in this case would not be worth it. There was more chance of her losing than winning. Nothing would get in the way of her success, not even her death.

Jade gave a nudge to Tear. "You can stop pretending now." he told her as he helped her to stand back up. He then looked over towards where Luke had been standing. It was no wonder he didn't see that coming, the redhead had done rather well at hiding himself behind the enlarged doll. If it wasn't for the fact that Luke had given his word, it would actually have been a great tactic. But then, it could have also been the Princess, though that was quite unlikely.

"I wasn't faking it-" Tear started to say.

The area finally stopped shaking and as it did so, Natalia went running over to her husband. "Luke, what were you doing?!" she scolded him. "You promised you wouldn't do anything."

"He is most definitely a naughty boy, breaking his word like that." Jade commented.

Luke looked over at the Malkuth Colonel with a menacing look. He wasn't going to deal with being scolded for doing something that had actually worked well. If something bad had happened, then he would understand fine. And then there was the fact that he had only promised to defend himself, not to remain completely uninvolved.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Jade. I recall promising that I wouldn't do anything besides defend myself. Legretta definitely intended quite serious harm for me if I didn't go willingly." He mentioned.

"He's got a point there." Ion mentioned. "And can you blame him for wanting to protect himself and those he cared about?"

"Thank you Ion."

"And what about me?" Anise asked. "Poor Tokunaga got shot!"

"Anise, thank you for your quick action."

"Aww, it was nothing, but if you really insist..."

Jade interrupted the girl before she could continue, he knew she was going to try to claim something from the noble for her good deed. "Anyway, before Anise exhorts Luke for all of his money, the land appears to have lowered safely. It would be best if we were not here for when Legretta's division comes to find out what happened to her, if she doesn't die before then."

Everyone started walking back towards the exit, but Tear stopped when they passed over Legretta's unconscious form. She just couldn't help but feel sorrowful that there was no choice but to side against someone she had a great respect for.

And this was only the start. There was still Cantabile, and then her own brother. Would she be able to attack the two of them without hesitation?

She only hoped so, because she knew they would not hesitate in the slightest.

* * *

And as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!


	34. Love and Life

**Note from Author**: As always, these characters do not belong to me, they belong to Namco Bandai. Of course as always if Namco Bandai is willing to give Asch, Guy or Jade to me, I would be happy to take them. But until then, all I can do is play around with them in my writings. This is a creation of my own overactive imagination and serious boredom, nothing more and nothing less.

Sorry for the extremely long wait here, hopefully this will be well worth the wait, especially for the Jade/Tear fans.

* * *

It should have been a great relief for Kiran to get out of Daath and actually go on a mission that had nothing to do with attempting to capture or kill his original, but it wasn't. He knew Luke's group was planning on going to Daath for his sake, to remove the curse slot. However, he didn't have the chance to tell Luke where exactly he was going before their argument. And now, he knew that even if he tried to talk to Luke, his original wouldn't answer him.

All in all, his life was definitely not going well.

At the very least, he knew this wouldn't be a boring assignment. He'd never been to Sheridan before, so getting to explore a new city would be interesting enough. Then there was the fact that he was to go and question the residents about the recent attempts at sabotage, which would give him a chance to interact with the craftsmen as he made it appear an investigation was actually being done, even though he knew full well Nepenthes wouldn't receive any punishment for this. His men who screwed up would.

Sync wasn't in the best of moods. It wasn't a surprise; he hated having to cover up for other people's stupid mistakes. Kiran, however, knew that before this was over, his superior's mood would get better. Nothing made Sync happier than having dirt on his fellow God-Generals, and he was bound to find some.

Since this mission was a relatively small one, only Sync, Kiran and two of Sync's men were going. The rest of Sync's division had either been sent off on missions with the other divisions or remained in Daath with duties to tend to there. The four of them traveled via the ferry that ran from Sheridan to Daath and had left soon after he and Luke had last spoken, the very next day in fact.

It only took a day of travel to arrive to Sheridan port from Daath. The sun was starting to set as they arrived, so they opted to stay the night at the port before heading to the city itself rather than risking traveling at night.

The city was bustling with activity as he imagined it would be when he arrived, being the City of Craftsmen. War definitely did not hinder affairs in the city of Sheridan. Much of their profits were made in the creation of landships and weaponry so like Chesedonia, they benefited from wars more than they did from peace.

Kiran hoped he would have some time to look around the city, he did find all the activity rather interesting and was curious to know what all the craftsmen were doing. But he did have a mission and he knew that Sync likely had everything that he had to accomplish planned out to the minute.

Before he ever got a chance to ask what his orders were, Sync spoke up. "Kiran, you're to go to the meeting hall. It is in the center of the city, only an idiot like Dist could miss it. I want you to speak with the head researchers and ask about the sabotage. Also, according to our information, they should know where the girl who got attacked lives. I want you to question her. Pay close attention to how she reacts to you."

He looked confused at the last part. He never had met this girl, why would she react at all to him besides in the normal way one reacts to a stranger? "Um, sir, is there anything in particular I should note about her reaction?"

"Just tell me how she reacts. My answer will come from that. Otherwise, just ask her about the attack on her and gather as many details as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"Then you are dismissed. Meet in front of the inn in six hours. That should be plenty of time to question the girl and the researchers. If you have time left over, discretely ask the residents questions about anything they will talk about."

"Got it, sir," he said before leaving the area. Not a bad assignment at all, once he finished asking some questions, he could explore the city more and ask the residents questions. He had to wonder however, what was Sync's objective with this? He seemed curious about the attack and sabotage, but he also seemed curious about the goings on in the city itself.

Kiran had no problem finding the meeting hall, It had been exactly where Sync had said it would be. He walked inside and took a look around to see if he could find those researchers that he had been asked to speak with.

He saw three elderly people, two men and a woman sitting at the table looking at something that appeared to be a diagram. While they all looked up when he entered the room., the woman was the one walked over towards him. "May I help you?" She looked at him most curiously. Why she was doing that, he couldn't figure out. Was the older woman mistaking him for Luke?

"Oh, I didn't mean to interrupt. My name is Kiran. I'm here with the Oracle Knights investigating some sabotage that occurred recently. Perhaps you can help me by answering some questions?"

One of the two men frowned. "Those men are going to get punished, right? Can't excuse what they did to the Albiore, or to Noelle."

"Of course they will, sir. The Oracle Knights don't condone such behavior from their members."

"So what do you want to ask us?" The woman asked.

"Can you give me information about what these men did to the girl who was attacked along with anything else they did to anyone or anything in this city?"

"Oh, you better sit down then, boy. This is going to take awhile." The other man stated.

--

It took some time for the researchers to explain everything that had happened. Kiran was amazed at just the amount of things that had been done. Most were pretty minor actually, but they added up; it meant the perpetrators would be in serious trouble. It also meant that Nepenthes has a good idea of how the flying machine, the Albiore as they had called it, was built, considering what had gone missing.

And he didn't miss how the researchers spoke in glowing terms of those who had stopped it. He recognized right away who it was they spoke of, and now things were starting to make sense. He had some idea why Sync personally got sent here rather than just sending a few lower ranked knights to deal with the matter. Luke's group had been here, and they now have what Nepenthes had worked to get a hold of.

"So you want to go talk to Noelle now?" the older woman, whose name he found out to be Tamara asked him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes, if that wouldn't be a problem."

"Nah, she doesn't have anything else to do really. Poor girl, she's been so bored since her leg was broken. I bet she'd love the distraction and will keep you occupied for hours if you let her."

He couldn't help but smile. Noelle sounded like a nice girl and it was a shame she got hurt in all of this. "Can I ask where she lives?"

"I'll do better, I'll take you. It's about time for me to check on her anyhow."

"Thanks. That would be wonderful."

They walked towards the part of town where Noelle had been living by herself since Ginji had left with Luke and the others. They walked up to the door, but before opening it, Tamara stopped to ask Kiran something. "Ever since you walked in the meeting hall, I got some weird feeling I've seen you before. Have we met somewhere?"

"No, this is my first time in Sheridan."

"Hmm, I wonder…" she mused. Kiran knew she must be noticing the resemblance between him and Luke. It was hard to miss it if she had met Luke before, and it was likely he had been in Sheridan. This city was Kimlascan territory, after all. Of course Luke would have been here previously.

Now he understood. That's why Sync wanted him to especially note reactions to him. That would tell more than anything else if Luke had been here recently. Even if he already knew it was Van's sister and the Malkuth Colonel who had been the most involved here.

"Well, I won't keep you from your duties. Let me introduce you to Noelle. I'm sure she will be happy to tell you what happened."

The woman opened the door and Kiran followed her inside. They didn't have far to go before they found the young blonde girl lying in bed. It looked like someone had attempted to give her something to keep her busy. She had improvised a desk of sorts that she could use in bed and was working on a diagram. She looked up once they entered. "Aunt Tamara! I'm almost done with the copy of the diagram you requested. If you can wait a bit I'll have it done for you."

"Oh, don't worry about that. We don't need it until tomorrow. I brought someone who wants to speak with you about what happened. Kiran, this is Noelle. Noelle, this is Kiran, he's an Oracle Knight who was sent to investigate about your attack. Would you mind answering his questions?"

She looked at him with interest. "Sure. I don't mind. Why don't you two sit down?"

"Oh, I have to get back. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and that Kiran found this place okay." She looked over at the redhead. "You seem decent compared to the others, but nothing had better happen to her. Got it?"

"Of course. Nothing will happen to her in my presence, I swear to Yulia."

"Good. I'll be by around dinnertime, Noelle. Do you need anything before then?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine, Aunt Tamara. Don't worry about me."

The older woman left. Kiran found a chair and brought it near the bed so he could talk with the girl. "So, can you tell me what happened?"

"There's really not too much to tell. I thought I could help catch the saboteurs. Instead they got caught and I was attacked by two others who thought they could 'have some fun with me' as they put it. Besides my leg being broken while I struggled, nothing happened because someone stopped them in time."

"Someone? Who was this?"

"A Malkuth solider. He introduced himself as Colonel Jade Curtiss. He was later joined by an Oracle Knight."

"Tear Grants?"

"Yes, how did you know? Did Aunt Tamara tell you?"

"Not their names, but I know them."

"Really? They were very nice people. Such a cute couple too."

Kiran couldn't help but be shocked at her words. Was she speaking of the same people he knew? A couple? Things must have changed quite a bit with the group if that were true. "Cute? Are you sure you are speaking of Colonel Curtiss?"

"Yes."

He couldn't help but smile. "Cute" wasn't exactly a word he would use to describe Jade Curtiss. Yet somehow, this girl had definitely got that impression. "So you said they stopped your attackers in time, what did they save you from?"

"Those bastards. I don't know what their problem was. I told them I didn't want to."

"Want to what?"

"They shoved me to the ground, that's what caused my leg to get broken. They were trying to remove my clothes and I was trying to stop them as best as I could, but with the pain and there being two of them, well…"

"You don't need to explain if it hurts you."

"No, I said I would answer your questions. If I don't, they won't get punished, right?"

"They will, but knowing what they did would help determine what punishment they received."

"Well, I didn't know the Order had such pigs among them. The bastards wanted to force themselves on me."

He looked even more shocked than before. Did she mean that they tried to rape her? He didn't want to pry further, because this was definitely a very uncomfortable subject. "I'm sorry, Noelle."

"It's not your fault. Just because two Oracle Knights are pigs doesn't mean all of you are. And nothing happened besides my leg being broken, thanks to your friends."

"Um, well, we aren't really friends, we just traveled together for a short time."

"Still, it was very kind of them to come to my rescue. I'm grateful to them, had they not been there, well…"

"You don't need to think about that. I'm glad things turned out well and you didn't get too badly hurt. You're leg will be okay, right?"

"Oh yes. The doctor says I should be up and about in another week. Had it not been for Tear, it would have taken longer to heal."

"Still, if I have any say in it, those two will get the maximum punishment for what they did to you."

She smiled at him. "Thanks. I can call you Kiran, right? Or do you have a title I should refer to you by."

"Kiran is fine. My rank is a confusing matter anyhow."

"Why would that be? You seem to have a high rank, your uniform is different from the others."

"I really can't talk about. It's confidential to the Order."

"Oh, I'm sorry I asked then."

"Don't worry about it.

"Is there anything else you wanted to know? I don't know if there is much more I can tell that you probably don't already know."

"Not that I can think of. We know which of the men attacked you; we just didn't have the details of what they did. I should report back to my commander now." He told her as he stood up to leave.

"Wait, do you have to go back right away?" she pleaded.

He looked at the girl, she actually did look upset to see him leave. He remembered what Tamara had said, she was bored, and would keep him occupied for hours if he let her. He still had some time before he had to report in to Sync.

"I could stay a bit longer."

"Could you? I hate to be a bother, it's just that…"

"You're feeling bored with having to stay in bed with little to do?"

"Yeah. I mean Aunt Tamara, and Grandpa Iemon and Aston come by, but they are so busy that they can't stay long."

"I understand. Giving you a bit of my time is the least I can do to make up for what my fellow Oracle Knights did to you."

"You can? Thank you so much!" Noelle exclaimed looking very pleased.

Her smile was infectious. For the first time in days, Kiran found himself with a reason to be happy about something. It was amazing how just the simple act of making another person happy could also lift his own mood. He also liked how comfortable he felt around this girl. For the first time ever, he felt like just a normal teenager who was a member of the Oracle Knights. She didn't know anything about him, didn't treat him any differently because of his rank, or because he was a replica, or anything. She just treated him like a normal person around her age. To enjoy this fact alone, he would stay with her as long as he could. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Could you maybe tell me about yourself? Why did you join the Oracle Knights? Do you like it? What's Daath like?"

He had to smile again at her barrage of questions. She definitely was a curious girl, but he really didn't like the direction her questions were going, even if they were just natural questions to ask. "Daath isn't that far away from here, haven't you been there before?"

She shook her head. "No. I haven't even been able to leave this town unless you count flying to Meggiora Highlands during test flights."

"Test flights?"

"I'm going to pilot the Albiore II once it's finished. My brother pilots the already finished Albiore. I'm excited because I'll get to see the world."

"That does sound really neat."

"Yeah, but you've probably been all over the place by now."

"Actually, no I haven't. This is actually my first time in Sheridan."

"Really? Don't you travel a lot by being an Oracle Knight?"

"We do have assignments in many places in the world, but this is the first time I've had one in Sheridan. I like it here so far though." He added quickly.

She smiled. "It's not a bad place, but it gets boring seeing the same stuff every day."

"I don't think so. I'd love to know what everyone was doing while I was walking around. That's just interesting to me, but maybe it's because I don't live here. You find Daath interesting, and I find it rather ordinary because I live there."

"Then it would be my hope to travel enough that no place becomes ordinary, right? Or at least I appreciate it more when I go home. Don't you look forward to going back to your home?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, aren't your originally from Baticul? I bet you miss it there."

He got really nervous once she asked that. How could she know about him? Oh wait, she must have seen Luke before and guessed they were related somehow. But even though Luke's mother claimed him as her own, he wasn't fully comfortable claiming that. He wasn't really from Baticul, but explaining why he wasn't opened up a discussion he didn't want to have with this girl. He wanted to continue with her thinking he was like everyone else.

His silence must have been long enough, she got a worried look on her face. "Kiran? what's wrong? Did I say something I shouldn't have? Or remind you of something you didn't want to think about?"

Now he was confused. What was she thinking about? "What do you mean by 'remind me of something'?"

"Well, you look exactly like one of the members of the royal family who came here a few times."

"Luke? Yeah, he's my twin brother."

"You must have been young when you left then". She looked sad at his confirmation. Was she disappointed maybe? Why would she be disappointed by him being Luke's twin? This was a time where he really wished he could talk to Luke about what he should do. He didn't know enough to answer these questions, and didn't have the advantage Luke had of being raised as a member of the royal family.

"Why do you think that?"

"No reason. You never answered my question, by the way. Why would a member of the royal family do something as dangerous as joining the Oracle Knights? It is dangerous right?"

"It can be, but not always. I really don't want to talk about that, ok?"

She nodded sadly. She looked so upset that he felt bad for doing this to her. He wished he could explain, but he couldn't. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I just feel bad for you. It must have been hard for you, so I can understand that you don't want to talk about it."

"Why would it be? I don't mind being an Oracle Knight."

"Was it your choice then?"

"Not at first, but I did choose to stay with them."

"That's what I thought, and that's why I feel so bad. At least I can stay with my family, you didn't have a choice and had to leave them to work like any other person does. You're royalty, you should be doing something besides being a common soldier, right?"

He smiled. "But I'm not exactly a common soldier, you already noted that much."

"But still--"

He interrupted before she could ask her question. "I really don't want to talk about my family and my reasons for joining the Oracle Knights."

She nodded. She couldn't help but notice his expression as he said that. She couldn't think of what it could be, sadness maybe? Or regret? Had something happened with his family that he had been forced to leave? Whatever it was, she preferred the smile he had right before he said that. It suited him, and it was nice to see she could make him smile, especially if there was so much sadness in his life.

She had to admit, he was most handsome, and really nice too. It wasn't the normal person who would take time once his assignment was done to speak with her further.

It was just a shame that he was from the royal family, and thus out of her reach. So she should just stop thinking about how handsome and sweet he was. It was just a silly thing to even consider and his being royalty and an Oracle Knight just had to be making her remember the fairy tales about the handsome knight who saved the damsel in distress and fell in love with her. Those were stories for children, she knew better than to think such fantasies would happen in reality. It wasn't like she would ever see him again after this day anyhow. But she doubted she would ever forget this day.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry. You've been so nice to me, a complete stranger, thank you for that," she told him. "I shouldn't take up any more of your time, but could I ask one more thing?"

As much as he enjoyed talking to her, despite his having to change the subject a bit, he did have to go report in to Sync very soon. "What would that be?"

"Could you sign my cast?" she asked with an innocently sweet smile. "I just don't want to forget this."

He looked at her injured leg and for the first time noticed all the drawings and writing on it. There was barely an open place to write anything with how much was there. "I'd hate to ruin these wonderful drawings with my handwriting. I'm told it looks no better than cheagle scratchings."

She giggled a bit. "Cheagle scratchings? I doubt it could be that bad. Please?"

She looked so cute pleading with him for something so simple. He really hated the idea, since it would be expected that someone from the royal family would be able to write his own name decently. His upbringing was far from normal though. It was amazing he was even able to read and write enough to fill out reports.

Well, it was doubtful she'd figure everything out, even if she was a smart girl. "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you about my handwriting."

She handed him the pen she had been using to copy the diagrams earlier and he found a small area where he could write his name and his title in the Oracle Knights. He did try to make sure his own name was at least remotely legible, his title was less so. "It's not that bad," She told him once he finished.

"Thanks. But I really should be reporting back to my commander now. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"It was a pleasure meeting you too Kiran. Make sure those guys get punished for me, ok?"

"I will. Because no one should be permitted to hurt a girl as kind as you are."

She blushed a bit at his comment, which made him wonder if he said something wrong. She was still smiling, so he had to guess that he said something she liked hearing. She didn't say anything else, so he left her.

And he didn't know why, but he had a strange feeling that would not be the last time he saw her. Oddly it wasn't something he minded at all.

--

Jade walked into the room Luke was staying in and found the redhead sitting on the bed running a brush through his long hair. "Might I have a word with you?" He asked Luke.

Luke stopped brushing his hair and looked up at Jade. "Of course. Not like we have anything else to do for the moment until we leave for Daath. What's going on?"

The Malkuth Colonel sat down next to the young noble. "Well, Ion tells me that something is bothering you. Maybe you could explain what this may be."

He frowned. So Ion had told Jade about it. "I don't want to talk about it."

"How come I knew you would say that?" The Malkuth Colonel said with a shrug. "Then how about we discuss your actions in the Ruins instead?"

"What about them? I didn't break my promise."

"Perhaps not the literal wording, but you did break the intent behind them."

"And things worked out fine. I'm fine, no one got hurt besides Legretta, what's the problem?"

He could see Jade looking intently at him, but he couldn't identify the look in the man's eyes, was it disappointment, worry, or something else entirely? "The problem is that you could have hurt yourself. We don't know yet what is wrong with you. How do we know that you didn't just hinder your recovery even more?"

"I doubt that. I'm actually feeling really good now. I didn't pass out this time, did I?"

"No, but that could be for many reasons. Don't think I didn't notice you were clinging to Tokunaga for support."

Luke frowned. Of course Jade had been watching him carefully, then how had he taken the man by surprise so well? Or was he making it look like he was taken by surprise? "Then why did you let me do it?"

"I couldn't exactly stop you, could I?"

"Somehow, I doubt that. You were doing just fine even with Tear being unconscious." He grinned devilishly as he thought of a perfect way to divert this conversation. "Speaking of her, what are your intentions towards her?"

"Don't change the subject Luke. My intentions towards Tear aren't any of your business."

"She's scared, you know."  
"I'm very aware of that, Luke. Now, back to you, perhaps you can tell me why you so quickly changed the subject when the others were discussing our last visit to the Ruins for your wife's sake?"

Seems his attempt to shift the topic didn't work well with a man like Jade who obviously wasn't going to discuss a personal matter. Well, two could play at that game. "I didn't. We needed to get moving."

"Interesting how the moment Kiran was mentioned you realized this. Could your replica have something to do with your sullen mood as of late?"

"He has nothing to do with it! I haven't even spoken with him, everyone should know that, we haven't seen him since he returned to Daath."

"Luke, don't think I already forgot that you two have a special connection with each other. Distance doesn't matter for you two. Your defensiveness says a lot more than your words do."

"Does it really matter to you how things are between us? Are we just some grand experiment to you? Don't think I don't know."

"Know what?"

"You're Dr. Jade Balfour, aren't you? You invented fomicry, and that's why you know so much about it."

Jade remained impassive, if Luke's revelation affected him, he sure didn't show it. "I know nothing of the sort."

Luke decided to push him harder, basically to do what Jade did best, back him into a corner where he was forced to answer. "Jade, your name isn't exactly all that common. While I was recovering, I read a book about fomicry, and it mentioned the inventor was a man named Dr. Jade Balfour, and that he had invented it as a child. The chances of there being another man named Jade who knows as much about fomicry as you do is almost none."

"But not impossible. What does this even have to do with anything? If you and Kiran are a grand experiment, it would be one of Van or Dist's experiments. Dr. Balfour stopped practicing fomicry years ago."

"Then why do you even care about what happens? If you invented fomicry, it makes some sense. You don't want to see your invention used wrongly, that's why you forbade its use on living creatures before leaving the field, right? You knew it was wrong to create human beings to be used as tools. Am I right? Is that why you stay with us?"

He sighed. "You've got me then. Yes, I was once known as Dr. Jade Balfour."

Somehow, Luke wasn't surprised by the revelation, just that it came so easily. "So why did you stop your research then? Was it because of the reason I think it was?"

"I didn't think it was ethical to be creating living replicas. You and Kiran are a prime example of why it isn't a good idea."

"But yet it isn't so bad, well, if…" Luke suddenly stopped when he realized what he was about to reveal. He didn't want to talk about Kiran, not yet, and maybe not ever.

"If what? You are hiding something aren't you? You and Kiran have spoken recently haven't you?"

Luke remained silent a moment. What could it hurt to reveal that much? He didn't need to mention that they argued, though he had a feeling Jade would make whatever assumptions he wanted no matter how he was answered. "Fine, we spoke recently. Does that make you happy?"

"Luke, you shouldn't keep things from us. Ion was most concerned about you. What did Kiran say to get you so upset then?"

"He didn't say anything."

"Luke, don't lie to me. I know he has to do with it. Does it have to do with his actions in St. Binah?"

"No, he explained that."

"Then what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

"Luke, if you are keeping something of importance to us, it is not okay. Our next stop is Daath, and you know how dangerous that is, correct?"

He knew Daath would be a useless trip, Kiran had mentioned that he was leaving soon, though he didn't say where or even when before they argued. At least if they went to Daath, they could get information, so it would be best that they go there for at least that much. Ion should be able to find out where Sync's division went to if they had already left. "I know the dangers Jade. I'm not a child. He didn't tell me anything that would help or hinder us." At least that much was the truth. Knowing Kiran would be leaving Daath without knowing where he would go wouldn't help at all.

"I hope for your sake that is the truth. You will be staying with Ginji while we are in Daath. The last thing we need is for you to be seen there."

"Damn it, Jade! I can take care of myself."

"It's not that. With the God-Generals having orders to kill you on sight if they can't drag you back to Van, we can't afford to have you there if we meet any."

"What about a disguise then? I can wear something that won't give me away. Or I could easily be mistaken for Kiran."

"Except he wouldn't be out of uniform while in Daath, and he wouldn't be seen with the rest of us."

"And what if the Oracle Knights end up finding the Albiore?"

"Ginji will have orders to depart from Daath for a time if anyone besides us approaches. He can return once they are gone."

He groaned, Jade sure had everything thought up, and as usual, had Luke backed into a corner. He wanted to go to Daath. He was sick of being excluded and only being able to help when only he was capable of doing something. "I'm sure you could think of a way to include me. Really, I'm sick of being treated like an invalid or a child."

"Luke, I do understand your feelings. But understand my position here. If I were to let something happen to you, imagine what would happen then."

"I doubt you would be blamed."

"I prefer not to take chances. I will have your promise that you will remain with Ginji in the Albiore."

"And if I don't?"

"I may have to consider leaving you somewhere safe for the duration. If you wife wishes to join you, she may."

"And where would that be?"

"I told you before, I hope you like the cold. Governor Osborne of Keterburg would look after you if I asked her to."

Luke thought that over for a moment. He recalled that Keterburg was Malkuth territory. It was far to the north, and the area received constant snow. It was also very isolated, though it was also a resort town. Now he was curious about Jade's connection to this woman he just mentioned. But then, Jade sure seemed to know people in high positions within Malkuth. "What makes you think I wouldn't just escape the Governor?"

Jade laughed ever so slightly. "My sister had to deal with me. I doubt she would find you all that troublesome."

Luke's eyebrows raised. Jade's sister? This was news to all of them. "You have a sister?"

"I do."

"Is she younger or older than you?"

"She's younger."

"Oh, the poor woman. I feel for her having to grow up with you."

"Which just shows she's prepared to handle one such as you. So you won't be able to leave and come find us later. So do I have your promise to remain with Ginji or will you continue to disregard your safety and force me to trouble my sister with looking after you?"

"Fine. I'll promise. Will we get to meet your sister someday? She sounds like an interesting person."

"Probably not. There should be no reason for us to have to go to Keterburg."

"Do you dislike it that much?"

"I merely have no reasons to go there. That is all. Anyway, we will be leaving tomorrow for Daath. If you want to spend some time with your wife, this would be a good time."

"Are you going to spend some time with Tear?"

"I said that is none of your business."

Having finished their conversation, Jade stood up and walked towards the door. "Jade, be careful with Tear. She's inexperienced compared to you. Don't hurt her."

"You need not worry about her. Hurting her is the last thing I would want to do."

Having had his say, Jade left the room leaving Luke alone with his thoughts on how he would deal with this new restriction. That and his concern for his friends. Was Tear getting in over her head with Jade? He knew Jade was a good person at heart, but both of them had a tendency to keep things to themselves.

Well, there was nothing he could do on that note unless one of them decided to open up to another. Tear already had to some degree, and probably would continue to seek advice from Natalia. At least there was a woman she could confide in.

How to deal with Jade's treatment of him was another matter completely. Though he already could see the loophole to his promise, he only promised to stay with Ginji. If he could talk Ginji into going into Daath for some reason, then he wouldn't be breaking his promise.

Now the question was, how to do that?

--

Jade had just finished up with his discussion with Luke. He had a feeling that even though the boy agreed to everything that like in the Zao Ruins, he would find some way around it. He sighed, him and Tear would try even Ion's patience.

They had a day to themselves before they had to leave for Daath. Everyone needed some rest, and while Chesedonia wasn't the most ideal place to do so, it was good to be on solid ground again and to be able to sleep in real beds, even if they had to be shared with others. If they stayed indoors, it wasn't too bad at all. The miasma wasn't as thick in the building as it was outside, but that was only a matter of time.

Jade knocked on the door to the girls' room. He knew Anise should be having dinner with Ion and Natalia, but he had asked Tear to stay until he arrived. Luke should have joined Ion and the others after their discussion. He was concerned that there was no answer. Had something happened to her?

He was about to try the door just so he could assure himself that she was okay when he saw a piece of paper wedged in the door. Looking closer, he could see it was addressed to him. He unfolded it and read it over. Once he saw the handwriting and signature, he was able to feel relief, it was from Tear. In her note she wrote that she wanted to get outside for a short time, that she felt a bit confined in the room. She also mentioned that she was ready for their long overdue talk if now was indeed the right time for such a thing.

Actually, part of the reason behind giving everyone a day of rest was the fact that not only did they need it, but he needed some time with Tear; Luke most likely could also use some time with Natalia. One day with no worries would do them all a world of good. Everyone had been concerned about one place or another that they couldn't even recall the last time they had even a bit of idle time besides resting or sleeping. They could wait one day to leave for Daath, and it was better that they did. A rested mind and body was better for going into enemy territory. He may not need the rest, but he was concerned enough about Luke and Tear especially to consider it needed for all of them.

Jade folded up Tear's note, placed it in his pocket and left to go find the melodist. She couldn't have gone too far. It wasn't at all surprising that he found the city almost completely devoid of people walking outside. Even the shopkeepers had moved their wares elsewhere. No one wanted to be out in the miasma for any longer than necessary.

It didn't take long to find Tear, he could see her from quite a distance away. She looked so lost in thought that he almost hated to interrupt her, but he wasn't going to wait longer on this if she was ready to discuss things. He did have some other things he wanted to ask her. If anyone among them had more knowledge about the miasma, she was the one.

She must have heard him approach--not a difficult thing with how silent it was--because she looked back all of a sudden. "Jade, I'm glad you got my note. I'm sorry for not staying."

"You weren't that hard to find."

"It's so dead now compared to before we left for the ruins."

"I'm sure everyone is indoors. We should get back to the inn also."

"I know." she said looking away from him. He could tell she didn't want to go back, not yet at least. That gave him an idea.

"How about we go have dinner somewhere besides where the others are?"

She looked at him with a slightly confused look on her face. "You mean like a date?"

"If you want to call it that, yes."

She smiled. "I'd be happy to."

Being the city of merchants, Chesedonia definitely had no shortage of places to eat. It didn't take them very long to find a place where they could go inside and enjoy a nice dinner for two. They could easily pretend nothing was wrong with the world for just a short time while they enjoyed each other's company, and had that long overdue discussion.

They found a place a short distance away from the inn just in case the others came looking. It was very crowded, but that was likely the case of any place that was indoors. Thankfully, the wait for a table wasn't too long. Tear remained silent most of the time they had been waiting, she had to be very nervous now, and he didn't blame her. It would merely take a little more care to get her talking.

That was the most important thing to him, she had to say she cared. He wouldn't do anything to her that she didn't want, no matter how fascinating he found the young melodist. If he were truthful, this was really as much of a first for him as it was for her. Oh, he had been with women before, and on many dates, but never with anyone he actually held an interest in as much as he did the woman who was sitting before him. No, he found most women actually quite dull to be with. But Tear was different, other than her shyness and innocence; she was very interesting to be around. The shyness and innocence would go away in time, once she got more used to being around him.

He waited until they had given their orders to the waitress to speak to her. "So, you said you were wanting to speak with me?"

She looked down and her voice shook a bit as she talked. "Yes. I had been thinking a lot in the past few days."

"You definitely have. I'm almost hurt that you were giving me the silent treatment."

"I'm sorry. I just needed some time."

"Of course you did."

"And, well..." she started to say. "Well, it's not easy to put my feelings into words."

"It never is, and it especially is difficult for one who has learned not to show feelings."

"Well, yes. I was taught that a soldier shouldn't show emotion ever."

"A lesson which you seem to be forgetting." He pointed out.

Tear blushed slightly at his reminder. "Yes. If I'm to protect everyone, I can't lose control if someone is threatened, no matter how much I care about that person. I wish I knew how you did it."

"You need to find a way that works for you to not let your emotions control you."

"That's why I'm afraid. If I put my feelings into words, what's to say that I won't make another mistake like before? Maybe it would be better to just pretend I don't care."

"Is that how you feel then? That it would be best to pretend that nothing ever happened between us?" He asked her, a slight look of concern showing on his face.

"No, I don't want that at all. It may be a mistake, but that isn't what I want. If I tried to forget, I would always be wondering what could have happened between us. Thinking about that won't be any better. I'd rather have the chance to be with you for however long it may last, whether it be a short time, or for the rest of our lives. Even if I make a mistake and let my feelings cloud my judgment, it's better than constantly wondering what could have been."

"Then nothing worries you besides that?"

"I wouldn't say that. But it's not enough for me to decide against being with you, well, if you want the same, I'm not so sure with all those cryptic remarks you made."  
"I didn't want to pressure you into anything you did not want. A relationship between two people won't work unless both want the same thing."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"For a start, learning all those secrets you keep hidden that make you different from any other woman I have ever met. All of them, even those that only you can see."

"What do you mean by that? I'm trying to not keep anything from you."

He smirked at her. Her innocence in some ways was quite endearing, and in others somewhat annoying. "There are things we keep from everyone we meet, and I'm not just speaking of events of the past."

She looked to be thinking his words over when the waitress arrived with their meals. Both of them were quite glad to eat a hot meal that they had no part in cooking, and a rather delicious one at that. It was interesting to find that the miasma didn't seem to have any effects on the food, though that could in the short term. He knew that if they didn't do something soon, there would be a whole host of long term effects on this city, along with St. Binah and Engeve, perhaps a short change in subject would be good, and put her at ease more.

"Tear, I was wondering, since you grew up in the Qliphoth, are there perhaps any insights you can give about living here that would help us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Those in Yulia City would likely know the most about the miasma. Has a cause for it ever been figured out?

"No, we only know that it came after the Planet Storm was created. Much of the information on the technology there was lost many years ago. We wouldn't even be able to do major repairs on many of the devices in the city if they were to break."

"And you said that miasma was harmful only if breathed in over an extended period of time, correct?"

"Yes. Sadly, within a year if we don't find some way to raise the land again, most of these people will die from it."

Though he had a feeling something like that would be the case, it didn't mean he liked the idea. "You know we can't raise the land again."

"I had thought that. If there was a way, Grandfather would have mentioned it. Is there nothing else we can do then?"

"That's what we need to find out."

"But even Yulia couldn't get rid of the miasma. That's why the Outer Lands were created."

Her mention of Yulia brought a thought to mind. It might be a bit strange, and went against all that they had ever been taught. But at this point, did that matter anymore? The Score was already invalid now, Van had ensured that. "Or perhaps she didn't try hard enough."

"What do you mean?"

"She made the pact with Lorelei and was given the Score. The Score told of how to create the Outer Lands so the people would survive. Maybe there was another way. We will just have to find that."

"Can we? So much has been lost, I don't even know if we could find the solution."

"We can't give up before we even try."

"You're right. You have been thinking a lot about that, haven't you?"

"I am merely gathering information for now. It is a shame Yulia City doesn't have more. Perhaps Daath will have something. I will have to ask Ion about that."

"Oh, that's right! The restricted library!" Tear commented as she remembered something of use.

"Restricted library?"

"Only those of sufficient rank in the Order or permission may access it. Supposedly there were some books deemed to be against the Score placed in there."

"That could hold some potential indeed. Ion should be able to provide us access to that."

"Yes. He can go whenever he pleases."

"Then there is something for the rest of us to do while Ion removes Kiran's curse slot."

"Are we going to try to get him out of Daath this time?"

"Too dangerous?"

"Very much so. He's already shown that he won't leave if it means trouble for us. And well, I'm not really into kidnapping." Jade said with a smirk.

She smiled, knowing full well he was actually joking. It was pleasing her to be getting better at reading him. "And we have enough problems with the God-Generals being after Luke as it is. It's a shame though; it would be useful to have Kiran around so that we don't have to depend on Luke so much in the passage rings."

The waitress arrived back and took their plates since both had finished their meals while talking. Jade paid for the meal so they could head back to the inn before the others became concerned about how long both of them had been gone.

They then left for the inn. Once they got to the door, Tear stopped right outside it. "What did you mean earlier?" she asked all of a sudden.

"By what exactly?"

"You said you wanted to know what made me different from other women you had met and that not all secrets we have are events of the past, what do you mean by that?"

"You are quite the innocent I see."

"Well, yes."

"Shall I show you then?"

"But how…?"

She didn't get a chance to finish asking her question before he pulled her close to him so he could feel the softness of her body against his own. She was startled by this, but didn't appear to object, no in fact she appeared to like being held so close to him like this. Since she showed no objections so far, he bent down to kiss her. That was one thing he had been wanting to do since that night in Sheridan where she started showing her feelings towards him, but he was able to wait patiently and it had been worth the wait indeed.

It wasn't a long kiss, and when he let go of her she seemed almost disappointed that there hadn't been more.

"That was merely a small taste of what I meant. Now, shall we go inside before Anise and Ion come looking for us?"

Tear didn't say anything, she merely nodded and followed him inside.

--

Natalia was worried about Luke. She knew his conversation with the Malkuth Colonel was finished; she had heard him leave earlier to look for Tear was her best guess. Luke, however, had yet to join them as he promised he would She excused herself from the table she was sitting at with Anise and the Fon Master so she could find her husband and find out what exactly was keeping him.

He wasn't hard to find; he was exactly where she had thought he would be. He appeared to be deep in though about something. What had Jade said to him to cause this?

She sat down on the bed behind him. "What's wrong?" she asked her husband.

"Do you regret coming with us?"

She was shocked by the suddenness of such a question, but was able to recover quickly and answer. "No. I wish you hadn't left like that. I miss our daughter, but I don't regret my decision to come with you. You're safety is very important to not only your family, but to all of Kimlasca. Are you regretting leaving then?"

"I miss our daughter. I barely got a chance to know her, but if I hadn't gone, I would be scared for both of you constantly. But I hate the way I'm being treated by everyone. I didn't want to be a burden on anyone, but it seems that is all I am."

She put her arms around him to try and comfort him. She could tell just how upset he was just by doing that. He was so tense, and that was concerning her. It also wasn't like him to speak such negative thoughts aloud. "You aren't a burden at all. Look at how many lives you helped save. Could any of the rest of us have done that?"

"Did I save them? Or did I just instead condemn them to a slow and painful death of being poisoned by the miasma? And don't forget Akzeriuth. At least those people didn't suffer for long before they all died. And now thousands more will die all because of things I did. Sometimes I think the world would have been better off if I had died like the Score said I would. Now everything's all messed up and going wrong."

"How can you even think that? Is that why you tried to just give yourself up to Legretta?"

"Well, it seems that my existence is only causing the world misery. The Score is being driven off track because I lived. Now because of me, everyone is having their chance at prosperity taken away."

"I don't want to hear such words come from you ever again! You're not driving the Score off track, isn't that why you left in the first place? To stop him from making more lands fall?"

"And this time it was our own doing. We made the lands fall, not Van. We condemned all those people, not him."

"Only because if we didn't lower them first, they would have fallen later and everyone would then be dead, including us. Would you prefer that?"

"Would you prefer dying slowly over dying quickly with no suffering?"

"Of course not. Do you think I want anyone to die?"

"But yet as it stands, we have condemned almost the whole world to die. Those down here will slowly die because of the miasma. You know Kimlasca depends on Engeve for food. Our people will starve if we don't figure something out."

She let go of him and pushed him away from her. "And we won't figure anything out if you keep up with this attitude! This is a complete waste of time if you are going to just think like this. I can't believe you would do this to me. How could you even think you would be better off dead and leaving me all alone to raise your daughter? And leaving me alone to rule Kimlasca in the future. You're the one who taught me what I needed to know about our people. Now it seems you have forgotten everything."

"But I-"

"I don't want to hear anything else from you until you have come to your senses." She then stood up and left the room. It was a good thing she left when she did, it wouldn't do for him to have seen the tears that came from him talking like that. There were some things he said that did make sense, but even those bits of logic were wrong. They would do something and everyone would be saved, right?

The alternative that Luke suggested was just unbearable. And Luke's death to stop it was just as intolerable of a solution. They had to find a way to save everyone, they had to.

--

Natalia had closed the door behind her to the room she was staying in. She didn't expect to be alone for long--after all, Anise and Tear would be returning at any moment now--but she wanted some privacy. Just enough time to compose herself to face the others. Her and Luke's problems wasn't really the business of everyone else, and he wouldn't share such things with the rest of them.

She had no idea how long had passed when she heard the door open behind her. She quickly wiped at her eyes to get rid of the tears. It wouldn't do for any of them to see her crying over this.

She should have known better though, Tear or Anise both would be worried if they saw her like this. "What's wrong, Natalia?" she heard Tear ask from behind her.

Once she knew her eyes were dry again, she turned to look at the melodist. "Nothing is wrong." Just one look at Tear told her that it would be best to just not talk about it. Tear looked so happy, talking about this would only do to bring her down. It wouldn't help one bit because Luke himself had to get over his stubbornness.

Tear sat down beside the young Princess. "Your eyes are all red, have you been crying?"

"I got something in my eye, that's all. So did you and the Colonel have a nice talk?"

Tear blushed slightly and looked down towards her lap. "Yes, but that's not important. If you're upset, I'm willing to listen."

"There's nothing you can do anyhow. I don't know what Luke and the Colonel talked about, but it seemed to do something to Luke. If I can't get through to him, who can?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'd rather forget he even said any of that. Can we talk about something else?"

"Would it maybe help if I talked to Luke? Or maybe Jade could talk to him again?"

"I doubt either of you could help."

"I'll be glad to at least try to talk to him. Maybe he'll open up with me more."

"It wasn't him being stubborn and untalkative. It was what he said. He was quite open about how he felt."

"What did he say that upset you so much?"

"He said that everything that had happened was his fault and that it would have been better if he had died in Akzeriuth. I'm afraid he going to do something really bad, and we are going to Daath next."

"So you're afraid that no matter what we do, he'll find a way to get himself captured?"

"Yes, and you know what they will do to him."

"Hmm..." Tear said looking to be deep in thought. "Well, maybe we need to find another way for him to be useful. Would that help?"

Natalia thought for a few moments on Tear's words and then smiled. "It might. I have an idea too for something he could do. With the battlefield falling into the Qliphoth, the armies may be willing to talk peace now."

"And you and Luke can go convince them? That sounds like a good idea. It would let him be useful for something that does need to be done."

"And it wouldn't be difficult to drop us off in Kaitzur on the way to Daath. Then there is no worry about leaving him so close to Daath. That is a wonderful idea, thanks Tear."

"Would Luke agree to it though?"

"I think so. I think he's so depressed because of all that has happened and he can't do anything to help. This way he can help in a way he is good at."

"Then let's go talk with Jade and see if we can even do this. Then we can make plans for what to do in Kaitzur."

* * *

As always reviews are greatly appreciated!

A/N: Thought I would give an update here as to the status of this fic. At this point in time I have over 100,000 words worth of this that needs to be edited and posted. The plot is actually done up to an equivalent of the first visit to Mt. Zaleho. I definitely haven't forgotten about this, I'm just drowning in stuff to be edited and at this time, I'm seriously considering just finishing it off and then editing and posting a chapter weekly. Though it sounds not fun now, I know how quickly the action is going to start picking up with the next chapter, and near the end it will especially be appreciated since there is loads of action and cliffhangers coming there if all goes as planned. I'd hope waiting a bit longer now where there isn't a huge cliffhanger is better than months when there is a cliffhanger.

I do apologize for that, but I do think in the long run it may be the best idea. Feel free to put a story alert on this so you can get notified when the next chapter does come out, I'm going to work like crazy in hopes to have this done before it's two years old.


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